Miami police chief disciplines officer for pulling over FHP trooper

From MiamiHerald.com

Insisting that his agency’s relationship with the Florida Highway Patrol is not strained, Miami’s police chief on Thursday issued a formal warning to an officer who pulled over a trooper on the turnpike.

Miami Interim Police Chief Manuel Orosa also tightened the department’s policy for pulling over fellow law enforcement officers, mandating no traffic stops without approval from a supervisor and only if the targeted officer is engaged in a felony.

The measure came two days after Miami police officer Thomas Vokaty pulled over a uniformed FHP trooper on the turnpike at Okeechobee Road despite “not having jurisdictional authority,” according to a discipline report released Thursday.

Vokaty will not be suspended, but he received a “record of formal counseling” for violating department policy.

The traffic stop — the trooper was not ticketed or arrested — is part of brewing tension between FHP and Miami police that started last month when FHP trooper Donna Jane Watts drew her gun, handcuffed, then charged Miami Officer Fausto Lopez for reckless driving on Florida’s Turnpike.

The incident, captured on video, has sparked furor among citizens as well as law enforcement officers who say Watts acted recklessly in drawing her weapon, yelling and handcuffing a fellow police officer.

In online law enforcement blog posts, Watts has been ridiculed and threatened. In recent days, somebody dumped feces on a trooper’s patrol car.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Orosa tried to quell talk of tension between the agencies, stressing unity to officers at a morning roll call at Miami police headquarters.

In a later news release, Orosa said: “The recent traffic stop of an FHP trooper by one of our officers was an isolated incident, and his actions should not reflect negatively on the Miami Police Department or the professional men and women who work for us.”

He added: “Additionally, I have attended roll calls and am pleased to say that all officers I’ve met with feel that the MPD and FHP are, and will always be, part of the greater law enforcement family in spite of the recent incidents.”

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/10/v ... z1dLiAH322