Who will head powerful Miami police union? The candidates couldn’t be more different

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After a tumultuous year of racial unrest and calls for police reform, Miami’s rank and file officers are about to make a decision that could set the tone for the high-profile department for at least the next two years.

This coming week, they’ll vote for a new president of the powerful police union — and the three candidates could not be more different.

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Current president Tommy Reyes is an openly gay, soft-spoken progressive who has led the union for the past two years and was a calming voice through months of downtown Black Lives Matters protests and a deadly pandemic. Lt. Ramon Carr is the vice president of the city’s Black police union, who earlier this year called for the removal of the city’s retiring Hispanic police chief for, among other things, once using the N word in a training session.

And the third is Javier Ortiz, a controversial past president currently on indefinite paid suspension after a long string of offensive and racist comments and social media posts.

It’s definitely diverse,” said Rodney Jacobs, assistant director of Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel, which reviews complaints of abuse filed against officers. “And it’s not only diverse in race, but in ideas and ideology.”

For a week beginning Saturday, more than 2,000 current and retired members of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police will decide who will lead their collective bargaining sessions, bolster their political and public support and defend their actions.

Regardless of the winner, University of Miami of law professor and ethics expert Tony Alfieri called it “progress” that such a diverse group is vying for the top union post.

“It’s representative of progress of the community,” said Alfieri. “But it’s also representative of the historical struggles over identity and acceptance and reconciliation in the community.”

In truth, most police union elections are inside baseball affairs. But Miami is a big, racially and ethnically diverse force — one of the largest in the Southeast — policing a city with diverse and complicated racial, language and cultural divides. Whether a police union boss is stirring the pot or turning down the heat can make a difference in community relations — particularly with many departments across the country grappling with calls for police reform in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and string of other deadly police encounters with Black men.


If no one else speaks, for various reasons, they [union presidents or spokespersons] can become the face of the department in newspaper [and television] stories,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.

In South Florida, police brass, not union bosses, are usually in the spotlight. But that’s not always the case. Union chiefs are among the most vocal defenders of cops accused of brutality and other questionable behavior. That was the case during the six years through 2017 that Ortiz served as FOP president for the Miami department.

The police captain often spoke to commissioners from the dais. He led street protests and used social media like a hammer, once referring to Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black boy who was shot and killed by a Cleveland officer in 2014 while playing with a toy gun, as a “thug.” Another time he urged police unions around the country to boycott working Beyonce concerts because he believed one of her videos was an anti-police message and a homage to the Black Panther counterculture movement of the 1960s.

For years, Miami leaders struggled with how to deal with his social media outbursts. Then last January, Ortiz referred to Blacks as “Negroes” and explained how he was actually Black and not Hispanic — citing an old racist trope known as the one-drop rule — to the city’s only Black commissioner. Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina suspended him indefinitely with pay.

The suspension doesn’t preclude Ortiz from seeking, for a fourth term, the presidency of the city’s FOP. Ortiz has been campaigning with a series of WhatsApp and YouTube videos. In one video, he criticized Reyes for making “backdoor” deals with a police oversight board. He also blasted Reyes for a plan to eliminate overtime to save 60 police jobs at risk because of lost city revenue during the pandemic. The criticism came before the city backed off its stance and found the money to keep the officers.


More recently he criticized the city for allowing Carr to retain a sworn position after losing sight in one of his eyes during a golfing accident. Ironically, it was the FOP that was responsible for Carr being grandfathered in and not being forced to take a pay cut and fill a civilian post. Ortiz did not respond to requests for an interview from the Miami Herald.

Unlike his predecessor, Reyes has not subjected the department to national criticism or constantly put himself in the spotlight since winning the post two years ago. Reyes’ leadership, even during one of the most chaotic years in memory, was a calming influence.

“I took a more professional and human approach, not always yelling and screaming,” said Reyes, a 35-year-old sergeant and a 14-year police veteran. Without naming Ortiz, he said past leadership spent too much time dealing with issues that had nothing to do with the department.

But Reyes also wasn’t afraid to speak up on issues of social justice. He was one of the first law enforcement leaders to blast Davie Police Chief Dale Engle for saying the death of Broward Sheriff Deputy Shannon Bennett was caused by his homosexual lifestyle. Engle was placed on leave and later retired. He also apologized for causing pain to Bennett’s family and friends and said he was simply trying to talk about potential risk factor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reyes considers the highlights of his tenure fighting pay and benefit cuts for officers during the pandemic and securing the national FOP conference in Miami in 2025, a large event expected to draw close to 30,000 officers and family members.

Carr, 48, and a 25-year police veteran, is the current vice president of the Miami Police Community Benevolent Association, the city’s Black police union. He made headlines this summer after forcing Colina to explain why during a training session 25 years ago the chief referred to Overtown as N....town. And, Carr complained, that not enough Black males were being promoted within the department.

Carr said there were two reasons he decided to run for FOP president: Reyes, Carr said, didn’t follow through on promises made to the Black police union two years ago. For example Carr said, Reyes once sent a letter to Colina asking the chief to bypass grievance discussions with the Black union. And, Carr said, the union failed to support a Haitian officer who complained when his supervisor made fun of his accent. Instead of representing the Haitian officer, Carr said, the union sat with his Hispanic supervisor during negotiations with the department that handles discriminatory complaints.

And Carr said the second reason he is running is to prevent Ortiz from resuming leadership.

“He’s just a raving lunatic who doesn’t deserve to be a cop,” the lieutenant said.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy

[Unregistered]

The BSO Union Prez has been ROD for months and the Vice Prez and treasurer have to run day to day ops. Fed court already ruled in BSO favor saying BSO can pay the Prez to stay home, make him check in twice a day, and take away his police powers and prevent him from responding to crime scenes or entering BSO facilities.

He's now a lame duck just like Javi will be if he wins.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronav...z7u-story.html

[Unregistered]

The BSO Union Prez has been ROD for months and the Vice Prez and treasurer have to run day to day ops. Fed court already ruled in BSO favor saying BSO can pay the Prez to stay home, make him check in twice a day, and take away his police powers and prevent him from responding to crime scenes or entering BSO facilities.

He's now a lame duck just like Javi will be if he wins.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronav...z7u-story.html

Tommy running scared?

[Unregistered]

So let’s sum up the article

Carr calls everyone a racist

Ortiz fights everything

And Reyes is a puppy but will get loud when a gay cop dies

Decisions,
Decisions

[Unregistered]

So let’s sum up the article

Carr calls everyone a racist

Ortiz fights everything

And Reyes is a puppy but will get loud when a gay cop dies

Decisions,
Decisions

It seems like Ortiz failed to comprehend the Miami Herald article. Javi get it through your thick your a d.ck and the whole the community knows it. You will never wear an MPD uniform again

[Unregistered]

It seems like Ortiz failed to comprehend the Miami Herald article. Javi get it through your thick your a d.ck and the whole the community knows it. You will never wear an MPD uniform again

He ain’t going to leave quietly folks so get use to the embarking stories

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Javi they don’t want u

[Unregistered]

Tommy is not the only candidate that is gay, at least Tommy is honest and not afraid of showing who he really is, Tommy is a proud man and a great person who is secured of himself. I always wonder when is Ortiz coming out of the closet, in my opinion he looks feminine and soft, his mannerisms gives him up. Carr also has his own agenda, he wants his wife to get promoted again.