Or ‘How the demotion of Daniel Junior caused a domino effect’
A major shake-up in the Miami-Dade public safety and corrections leadership was announced Friday by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. The changes involve at least eight people — but one could argue that none of it would have happened if La Alcaldesa didn’t need to knock Daniel Junior, the director of Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation, down a notch.
Or two. Or three.
Junior, who was made the top dog at the county’s jails and prisons by former Mayor Carlos Gimenez in 2016, has been demoted to assistant director of safety and security enforcement at the Seaport. So, basically, the chief of the port patrol. A version of the mall cop.
His demotion sets off a series of changes that include moves for Chief Public Safety Officer J.D. Patterson and Police Director Freddy Ramirez.
La Alcaldesa, as usual, has tried to put the best spin on the situation.
“He will bring important leadership to the Port’s senior management team and help maintain a safe and secure environment as we continue to expand operations to respond to increased cargo growth and the resumption of cruising activities,” Levine Cava said about Junior, who has more than 26 years of senior management experience at the county, and “proven experience overseeing and managing civilian and sworn staff at a major county department.”
Really? This despite the trouble at the jail with the suicide in January and the lawsuit filed by three transgender individuals who were mistreated after they were arrested during the Black Lives Matter protest sin 2020, and the accusations of mistreatment and rotten food.
Read related: Will they stay or will the go? County administration changes in Miami-Dade
Junior was never a good choice for director. He had been accused of domestic violence and was in the command staff for 20 years, including when, in 2013, a woman was assaulted by over a dozen men and when, in 2014, prison authorities fatally tortured prisoner Darren Rainey, who was mentally ill, by scalding him in a shower.
Maybe Levine Cava — who would not answer questions about the changes — should have demoted him a long time ago.
Junior wouldn’t be getting sent to the county’s version of Siberia if he didn’t have such a horrible track record in corrections. And he is the only one of the eight staffers who doesn’t even need to report to work this week because his Number 2 is already the boss. Everyone else starts March 1.
None of that history or context was in the memo the mayor wrote. Nah. No need for such honest details. Neither was there one word about how this will affect or not affect a Department of Justice decree the county has been under since 2013.
Instead, it was all flowery and sweet — and sounded far too much like a pat on the back.
“Since I was elected Mayor in November 2020, I have been constantly working to enhance our departments and improve our teams to provide the very best quality of services we can and to further ensure public safety in our communities,” she wrote in what sounds like a campaign message.
“I believe a transparent government is one that listens to its constituents and takes concrete action when necessary,” she wrote, basically mocking the word transparent.
Levine Cava makes it sound like these changes are normal, even constituent-driven. Like ‘Nothing to see here, folks.’ When actually, it was a big surprise to many, if not everyone.
La Alcaldesa apparently didn’t talk to anyone before making these sweeping changes. Well, maybe she spoke to her inside circle, but not to the stakeholders. The commission chairman didn’t return several calls but people close to him said he knew nothing. Neither did the state attorney’s office or the public defender’s office.
Commissioner Sally Heyman, who chairs the county’s community safety committee, told The Miami Herald she was not informed of the changes until the night before the announcement. She was under the impression that Junior was doing a good job.
“I feel disheartened, and disappointed,” she is quoted as saying.
These are the dominos falling:
- Patterson, who was brought in as the county’s first ever Chief Public Safety Officer under Daniella less than a year ago, will serve on “special assignment” to the Corrections and Rehabilitation Department (MDCR). The Air Force vet moves around a lot. He was chief of police in Miami Gardens before joining the county again, where he was police director from 2013 to 2016 — which is when the public corruption unit was dismantled at Gimenez’s direction. “JD’s extensive experience in public safety will ensure that anyone under Miami-Dade custody receives the proper services,” Levine Cava wrote. That’s a lot of pressure to put on one person, Alcaldesa.
- Cassandra Jones, a corrections vet with 26 years of supervisory experience who is currently the deputy director, will step up to serve as interim director. “She has demonstrated dedication to the success of the Department and the professional development of its employees,” DLC said. Jones — who was Number 2 under Junior and all his flubs — is the only appointment that is “effective immediately.” So, as of last Friday.
- Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez will be promoted to Interim Chief Public Safety Officer. A 25-year veteran, Ramirez joined the Miami-Dade department in 1995 and rose to the ranks until becoming director in January of 2020. “During the last two years, Freddy has led the agency with excellent results on gun violence prevention and homicide reduction,” the mayor wrote in her memo.
- George Perez, assistant director of MDPD, will step in as interim director. A law enforcement officer for more than 22 years, Perez has commanded the Town of Miami Lakes, Northside District, the Professional Compliance Bureau and, now, Police Services — 2,500 sworn and civilian employees in South Operations, North Operations, and the Strategic Response division.
- Stephanie Daniels, another assistant Director at MDPD, will become the new Number 2 and the first woman ever to have the position of deputy director. Daniels joined MDPD in 1992 after working for the State Attorney’s Office and the Miami Police Department. In 2016, she made history when she was appointed as the first Black woman to serve in her current job.
- Rahel Weldeyesus, Senior Advisor for Innovation and Performance in the mayor’s office, will serve as Senior Advisor for Public Safety on “special assignment” to MDPD to assist with the Sheriff’s transition — which means basically the Levine Cava’s spy in the police department. One of the equity and diversity Power Rangers in the mayor’s office, and the campaign team before that, Weldeyesus spearheaded the county’s Thrive305 initiative, the “largest civic engagement effort in county government history” — which nobody Ladra knows participated in. She has over 15 years of experience in strategic planning, performance management, and public safety, working with government agencies, nonprofit and community organizations. And this qualifies her to be the point person on the transition to a sheriff?
- Jason Smith, another one of the mayor’s Power Rangers as director of Equity and Inclusion in the mayor’s office, will serve as interim senior advisor for equity and engagement, which is not the same as senior advisor for innovation and performance. Both still a mouthful and sounds like a job in the land of Oz. The mayor assures us that Smith is a public policy professional with nearly two decades of economic development and community engagement experience.
“I am confident that these personnel moves will build on the successes and lessons learned during the first year of my administration to bring the necessary focus and change needed as we embark our second year,” the mayor wrote.
That’s right! Levine Cava has only been the mayor a little more than a year! And a lot of the county leadership has changed in that time.
Read related: La Alcaldes restructures Miami-Dade to focus on policy, equity, social services
The airport has a new director in Ralph Cutie, who was a surprise to everyone (more on that later). He was the aviation department’s assistant director for facilities management and engineering under Lester Sola, who was pushed out after several procurement problems. Former Internal Services Director Tara Smith was also pushed out, er, resigned “to pursue her dreams” — which apparently was to work someplace where her decisions wouldn’t be politically challenged. Now the director of the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services, Smith was replaced by former Animal Services Director Alex Muñoz.
It’s okay. These administrators are interchangeable. The animal guy can now do procurement. Why not? Sola was director of Water and Sewer before he was director of the airport. And director of Internal Services before that. And the supervisor of elections before that.
Isn’t it all kind of the same thing? Or could this be maybe one of the reasons why Miami-Dade is such a mess?
Shake up in Miami-Dade public safety surprises many, but long overdue added by Ladra on
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