MIAMI LODGE

F R A T E R N A L thO R D E R O F P O L I C E
710 Southwest 12 Avenue. Miami, Florida 33130
Phone (305) 854-5019
Ortiz@fopmiami.com

Javier Ortiz

Thomas Reyes

PRESIDENT

SECRETARY

July 7, 2015
Re: Mayors Budget, Police Hiring & Your Safety
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Mayor had sent a message that he wanted to take care of restoring benefits last week as quoted in a
Miami Herald article. Today, the Mayor unveiled his budget which spoke about some key points:

Replacing sworn members with civilians which is union busting.

Hiring traffic control specialists to direct traffic in Downtown Miami by replacing sworn
members.
Hiring part time police officers which will affect retirement contributions and erode employee
rights.

The only thing the Mayor has obviously accepted is that he cant hire police officers fast enough. He has
been touting how they have allocated funding for more cops every year and to no avail can they hire.
Yet, this year he isnt allocating money for more cops. He has strategically tied up funding sources to
district initiatives so Commissioners will have to decide what is more important to their constituents. He
brags about a decrease of part one crime, yet he doesnt address that we are trending to surpass last years
murder rate. He doesnt address that under our current police administration, we are now lowering the
amount of police officers for calls for service in order to save on overtime. The MPD brass will call it a
restructure under this smoke and mirrors agenda.
What is the MPDs mission? We thought it was to make our city a place where all people can live, work,
and visit safely without fear. Apparently that isnt the case. Instead, our agency hoards approximately a $3
million dollar surplus (this year alone) in salary savings. When I asked if they can use that savings to keep
minimum staffing levels to keep our cops safe at our current levels, I was told no.
I was also reminded by a top staff member that I am the FOP President and not management when it
comes to their decisions. Theyre right about that. If I were staff, Id be advocating for our cops, not for
the City Manager. I would ensure that they have the equipment they need to do the job and ensure that our
cops are adequately compensated. The question is quite simple. Who has the best interest of our officers
and community when the City intentionally lowers our backup support when they have the means to
bolster it?

A Proud Tradition in Law Enforcement

Two days ago we were involved in an in-custody death in which a man armed with a knife died.
According to the Miami Herald, the first officer locked himself in his police car when the man lunged at
him with a knife to wait for backup. Do you blame our brother with the history of our department firing
officers with a ridiculous departmental order for putting themselves in harms way? Why hasnt the MPD
repealed that policy? Every time we place our uniform on, we are in harms way. Imagine if that armed
suspect attacked a citizen while we waited for backup. After the citywide restructure commencing July
7th, there will be less patrol officers to respond to back us up.
Last week the City Manager and Police Chief were asked time and time again why we cannot hire police
officers. What is their planned response? They are planning to add more investigators to the Recruitment
and Selection Unit (which is larger than our Homicide Unit). Police candidate orientations and physical
agility exams will be done on weekends in an attempt to give the perception that the MPD is pushing
hiring. This just adds more fatigue and stress to the background investigators who are now working at
times seven days a week. You cant hire cops when youre fishing from the same pool and youre
using cheap bait while your competitors are using the good stuff. The same qualified candidate that
the MPD is trying to obtain is applying to agencies that actually compensate their sworn members like
Miami Beach, Sunrise and Miami-Dade Police.
We never thought that things would get to this point. The commission asks why the Miami Fire
Department has no issue in keeping up with hiring. The main reason is because there is a big pool of
qualified candidates that want to be firefighters. We cant say the same for police officers. Miami-Dade
Police has 400 sworn members retiring this month. Why dont they have the hiring issues that we have?
Its not because they have an expensive marketing campaign. Its simply because they reasonably
compensate their police officers.
Due to the fact that the police department and our city manager is focused on saving money as if we
are a business instead of focusing on supporting our sworn members, the FOP is taking the
following position. We are asking that police officers use discretion when making arrests. Please
dont be tying yourself up on discretionary quality of life arrests (drinking in public, illegal flower
vending, trespassing and minor misdemeanor crimes that arent mandated). Stay in service to be
able to answer calls. Unless its something like domestic violence that an arrest is mandatory, keep
yourself free to back up your fellow brother and sister. This is not a time to be proactive making
traffic stops or putting yourself in harms way when there is no support from the city. Until the
community and our elected officials get our backs, we need to protect our own. Continue to be
professional. Do not answer a call without backup. If that officer involved in our last in-custody
death would have taken action without backup, what would the community say? He should have
waited for backup!
We will keep you apprised of any new updates.
#BackEachotherUp
In Unity,

Javier Ortiz
Lieutenant Javier Ortiz, President
Miami Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #20