Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is all about the optics.
Under fire on an election year for letting the police department get dangerously understaffed, Gimenez will attend a ceremony Thursday for the “largest graduating class” of police officers.
But like a lot of other things the mayor does, it’s not entirely true and mostly for show.
Of the 95 officers who will ‘graduate’ Thursday, 35 still have course work and exams to to take before they can be officially hired. They will be in class through Feb. 17, according to the police department’s training unit — and may even not graduate if they don’t pass all the criteria.
Rank and file cops say the mayor is creating the photo op so that he can look like he is doing something about the police department’s shortage of officers. There are actually three separate classes — BLE 112 (35 trainees), CTA 1 (20 trainees) and Lateral 1 (40 trainees) — that have never been lumped together for a ceremony before being presented as the “largest graduating class.”
“The statement is false and is without question a purely political falsehood perpetrated by Mayor Carlos Gimenez as an attempt to improve his image on public safety. It’s a masquerade,” said Dade County PBA President John Rivera.
There are in fact three separate classes: BLE 112 (35 trainees), CTA 1 (20 trainees) and Lateral 1 (40 trainees). This is the first time, he added, they have been lumped together for a “graduation.”
And just how does 95 officers address the shortage anyway? PBA vice president Pablo Lima told Ladra that there are 137 officers scheduled to retire in May through the county’s Deferred Retirement Option Plan and that the department is losing five to 10 officers a month through attrition (they go to other departments that are not being dismantled by their electeds).
“Public safety has never been a priority to Carlos Gimenez,” Rivera said. “During his time in office he has severely depleted manpower, slashed departmental resources and cut important community programs.
“Enough with the smoke and mirrors. It’s outrageous that the Mayor is once again trying to mislead the public when it comes to safety. We have been saying that more officers are needed and now he is trying to woo the public with a false sense of security by having the public believe that we are making up the existing officer deficiency. We are not.”
It’s all about the optics, John.
All about the optics: Cops ‘graduating’ class is just for show added by Ladra on
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