Fla. Sheriffs Association Names First Female President

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — A South Florida native became the first female president of the Florida Sheriffs Association in the group's 118-year history.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports the association named Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton to the high post on Tuesday.

The announcement's other South Florida connection: Miami-Dade County Detective Oscar Plasencia is the association's deputy of the year.

Plascenia killed a murder suspect who had just fatally shot two of his partners in January 2011 as they tried to serve an arrest warrant.

Benton succeeds Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson.

A grandmother, Benton has nearly 40 years of law enforcement experience and previously was the association's vice president.

She was born and raised in Miami-Dade and followed in the footsteps of her great-grandfather, who was chief of police in St. Augustine in the 1920s.