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THERE IS RANK HYPOCRISY IN ANYTHING THAT FRANCIS SUAREZ SAYS ABOUT GETTING TOUGH ON BAD COPS

NUMBER 27 - MAY 6, 2018

Last week the local TV stations had a field day with the video of a moron cop kicking a suspect in the head as he lay handcuffed on the ground.  


It was one of those moments that give politicians an opportunity to posture for political benefit by trashing the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and common sense.


Miami Mayor Francis Suarez showed that when it comes to this kind of exploitative political posturing and pandering, he's was ready to issue a statement and leap in front of the first microphone he could find to show that he's more than willing to ignore the law in order to issue a statement that the, "police chief should be given the ability to fire the officer immediately."

It's this kind of tough talk that Suarez believes will convince the public to go along with his efforts to have them support his ambitions to become Miami's Strong Mayor.


Now, I'm in no way supporting what this cop did, or that eventually, he should be either arrested and/or fired, but not in a way that trashes due process and the rule of law.


Moreover, lost in all angst and anger generated in the aftermath of this video there is a far more important question that has been completely ignored by everyone, is not that this cop should be fired, but rather, how did this guy get on the force to begin with!?!


The next question that needs to be asked and answered is what about the Field Training that these new officers receive?  It used to be that Field Training Officers actually had years of experience.  Now it seems that cops on the force two or three years are becoming FTO's which is pretty much a case of the blind leading the blind.


Contrary to what some people might believe, the wanton cronyism that I documented a few years ago regarding the way in which recruits found their way into the police department obviously has not changed much, because all of the recent cases of Miami Police Department officers behaving badly have involved officers who've been on the force less than 2 1/2 years.  (HERE), (HERE), (HERE).


In addition, here are a couple of the stories that I published detailing the problems that the department was having - including the cronyism - with it's hiring practices in 2013 and 2014, which obviously continued to impact the hiring practices in 2015 and 2016. (HERE), (HERE),


In the heat of the moment, it's alway easy for an idiot politician to pander to the blood lust of a crowd by forsaking the rule of law, but the reality is that the police department, like the fire department, and like most of the other city workers are members of public employee unions who would never give up their rights of due process.


Moreover, as I continually try to stress when people come up with half-baked solutions to problems facing the city is that what everyone always needs to keep in the forefront of their minds when it comes to Miami is that it is, has been, and will continue to be: It's Miami, Bitches!


Giving any Chief of Police, like giving any Mayor more power in Miami, is about as  crazy ad dangerous an idea as inviting President Donald Trump to give a speech at annual convention of Porn Stars and not expect that at the end of the day someone will  get screwed, and that neither a condom or lubricant will be used.


One of the reasons that the Miami Police Department continues to have the problems that it's had is that it has not had a lot of luck with police chiefs.  


Consider Chief Manny Orosa.


Orosa was appointed Chief after Miguel Exposito was fired in September of 2011, for insubordination in fighting with Tomas Regalado and City Manager Johnny "The Doormat" Martinez, over the placement of illegal maquinita machines.


It turned out that Orosa had a checkered past as a police officer and in the aftermath of the murder of Leonardo Mercado, a murder committed by Orosa's undercover drug unit, he volunteered to accept use immunity by the US Attorney in order to avoid being indicted with the rest of his squad.


How many big cities in America can lay claim to having had a police chief who became a government witness against his own officers in order not to be charged along with them for the murder of a low level drug dealer?


Or consider Orosa's replacement, Chief Rudy Llanes.


If you're a regular reader of this website you know that I wrote repeated stories in late 2016 and early 2017 about how Llanes lied about his involvement in the destruction of evidence kept in a rotting shipping container under I-95, and who in my January 2, 2018 story was revealed to have both knowledge of, and played a part in helping to cover up the theft of 11 revolvers from the police property room.


Mind you, the stories that support my claims above are not the only instances of bad behavior by these two, because both of them allowed gross mismanagement  incompetence and cronyism to fester and grow within the department during their terms as Chief.


No better example supports this claim than the refusal of both of these Chiefs during their terms to do anything in response to the documented misbehavior and multiple findings by the Civilian Investigative Panel that Javier Ortiz had on multiple occasions lived up to his billing of being considered at the top of the list of Miami's Thug Cops.


In fact,  the day after Jorge Colina was sworn in as the new Chief of Police, Miami New Times posted a story about Javier Ortiz posting selfies mocking Black arrestees - Ortiz has shown a clear and persistent pattern of racist behavior over the years - that resulted two weeks ago in the Civilian Investigative Panel finding that Ortiz had indeed engaged in improper behavior:


          "The independent police oversight board voted to sustain two

          allegations of improper procedure against Ortiz over the photos,

          which were sent anonymously along with a complaint that said

          posts in the locked account regularly mock black arrestees.


          Omega and several other members of the panel found the photos

          disturbing enough that they wanted to press for decisive action

          from the police department.


          “I don’t know what action the chief can take, but I hope that we

          can recommend that he take the strongest action possible,” board

          member Doug Mayer said. “I think we need to set an example so

          that we don’t allow this to occur again and again and again.”"


Will this finding and recommendation to the Chief to "take the strongest possible action," really result in anything happening to Ortiz.?


Within hours after seeing the video of the cop kicking the guy in the head, Chief Colina ROD that cop. Two weeks after the CIP recommended that the Chief "take the strongest action possible," against Ortiz, he's walking around like nothing happened.


In short, nothing of consequence has ever happened to Ortiz for his many acts of racism, assault, bullying, lying and because of his long time position as the president of the local FOP union - a position that he relinquished in name only after he was promoted to Captain - he seems to have carte blanche to behave badly without fear of consequence.


This is why Francis Suarez's self-serving statement about being able to fire cops who behave badly should be able to happen immediately is so much crap.


Here is one decision that Francis Suarez could take on his own that is not only long overdue, but one that might actually send a signal that he's more than just another pandering, ass kissing politician.


QUIT POSING FOR PHOTOS WITH JAVIER ORTIZ!!!


Unless, and until Francis Suarez is willing to do this simple thing, then all his comments about the police department are just bullshit!