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

September 3, 2015
Re: MPD Press Conference On Police Hiring & City Managers Hiring Strategy
Dear Members of the media and concerned citizens,
The data provided by the City Manager for the press conference is insulting to the citizens and employees of the
City of Miami. To quantify crime in the city of Miami as Part I Crimes is disingenuous. No one compares a
car being stolen or a shoplifter to a murder or rape. If the manager wants to discuss crime, lets discuss the
crimes that have the greatest impact on the citizens. Innocent people being shot, our neighbors being
burglarized, family members raped, and corner stores being robbed are the crimes they should address. The
ability of the police department to prevent and solve these crimes is what the tax payers are concerned with, not
a combined total grouping larcenies with capital offenses.
The most disingenuous portion of the City Managers message was his attached graphs. The doctoring of the
scale of the graphs leads us to believe that he doesnt think we can quantify statistics and basic math. All of the
cities compared to Miami had nearly double the number of officers per residents, but the graphs make it appear
that Miami is equal, if not better. The graph comparing Baltimore to the City of Miami shows a dramatic
decline in officers (signified by the red line). According to their graph, Miami has 2.55 officers per 1K
residents while Baltimore has 4.55. The City of Baltimore has declined to nearly double the number of officers
with a commiserate crime rate. On September 10th, we will demonstrate how false this statistic is.
I would like to thank the administration for providing the elected officials and citizens in the City of Miami with
these statistics. We would ask that they present the same statistics with the values reflecting an accurate
comparison. If accurate charts are not provided prior to tomorrows press conference, the FOP will generate
accurate charts to present.
The City Managers memorandum shows the incompetency of the administration in purposely deceiving the
public. This is nothing but pure manipulation of statistics in order to turn a blind eye to the current state of our
police department. On September 10th, the Fraternal Order of Police will show our community as well as our
elected officials how the hiring strategy as well as the crime statistics put forth at this press conference are
nothing but another smoke and mirrors attempt to betray the public.
Regards,

Lt. Javier Ortiz

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