But because they came in the back way they never bothered to sign the Visitors Check-In Log, raising a question as to just who is the guy in the photos dragging and pulling the blue plastic container and carrying a big  box out of the building on his shoulder?

At this point Chavez could claim it was Elvis, Jesus or even Donald Trump, and no one could ever prove otherwise because other than the grainy cell phone camera photos, there is absolutely no record of who he is, or that he was ever inside a Restricted Area of Miami's Police headquarters.

A couple days ago I wrote how retired Major Orestes Chavez - the principle subject in an open criminal investigation of the removal of 11 handguns from the Miami Police Department's Property Room, where he had been the Major in Charge - returned to police headquarters last Saturday night sometime after 8 PM to supposedly remove the personal items from his former office - the office that had been locked up for the previous two plus months since he had retired so it could be used as a set in the telenovela that he and his wife were producing.

Not only did Chavez and his pal have complete and unfettered access to almost the entire building thanks to this identity card which works as a swipe card:

The claim by the Manager that Chavez chose "a very inappropriate time" is an understatement. The very idea that a guy who is the principal subject in an open criminal investigation over the theft of guns from the the Miami Police Department's Property Room - located feet away from the office that he was cleaning out - not only decided to clean out his office on a Saturday night, but did so by coming in a back door and with an unidentified stranger raises serious questions about the integrity of command control and security within the department.

The fact that Chavez still had custody of a swipe card that provided him complete access to virtually every part of police headquarters two plus months after he retired is astounding.

Add to that the claim, supported by the below photo that Chavez still had an active password and could access the department's computer system is just mind boggling.

Putting aside any issue concerning missing guns, the notion that a former employee - even a former Major - would be able to come into police headquarters on a Saturday night with an unidentified individual, and after being challenged on what was in the boxes being dragged out of the building would be allowed leave without having these boxes searched to verify that no official police property was being taken out along with "personal items" is just mind boggling.

This represents a complete violation of the most basic protocols regarding how a police department protects its own headquarters.

A low level Lieutenant would be stupid to make a decision like that on his own, and even the Duty Officer above him would not make that kind of decision without getting approval from someone higher.

The BIG question is, was that person the Chief, and if it was, is he man enough to say so, or will he deny everything? But here's the best - or worst part - depending on your sense of humor.  

Believe it or not, the ADT monitoring alarms that are supposed to protect the vaults inside the Property Room HAVE NOT BEEN WORKING FOR ALMOST A MONTH, and there is some question as to whether the video surveillance cameras were working.  I have made a request for the video footage, and if it's not forthcoming, then we can assume that they weren't.

Just how many more examples of bad management, mismanagement and just outright incompetence have to surface before it become apparent even to the dense City Manager that he cannot continue to protect a Chief of Police who's too stupid to cover his own ass, much less the Manager's?

It's Miami. Bitches!

The incident became an issue almost immediately after Chavez and his unidentified companion were discovered by Sergeant Nestor Garcia who contacted Javier Ortiz, the President of the FOP, who then wrote the State Attorney and copies City Manager Danny Alfonso.  Here is that email.

On Sunday, the manager wrote the mayor and members of the City Commission.