From Political Cortadito by Ladra we come full circle to learn what this item is all about...
The misleading information / articles / ads that intend to create confusion...
On 07-16-2024 we received a message from a Town of Miami Lakes Resident with regard to the above article as it is of great interest to our community / Municipality.
The Article featured a photo / ad for Miami Dade County Mayor DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA and as usual people associate the photograph with the content of the article... see below:
Just to clarify:
The Mutual Aid Agreement item that was considered at the last County Commission meeting is NOT Mayor Levine Cava's item as the photo and title suggests. Also important to note that the item was ultimately delayed by the Board of County Commissioners... by:
Tomas Alcala, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava
Deputy Chief of Staff: vigilant and a great communicator
The Item is NOT Mayor Levine Cava's item as the photo and title suggests! More important to note, the item was ultimately delayed by the Board of County Commissioners!
Thank you Tomas!
Video Select the following date
07-16-2024 Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners
Once you find the video and are watching it, select item 11A4: Resolution approving Revised Mutual Aid Agreement for Voluntary Cooperation and Operational Assistance; Directing the County Mayor or County Mayor's Designee to exercise CANCELLATION provision in existing Mutual Aid Agreement for Voluntary Cooperation to hear the discussion
Starts with Commissioner Raquel A. Regalado who explains this will be under the purview of the newly elected Miami-Dade County Sheriff. Then the Chair, Oliver Gilbert explains the reason for the item and how when a Municipality turns over policing to the County and the County pays overtime then one municipality drives 'a hole' in the Budget at the expense of the rest of the County bypassing including the item on the Municipal budget...
Pre-Planned Voluntary Major Events costs the Municipality must reimburse the County.
Let's look at the Agenda Item Introduced on 07-16-2024
PDF Format From: Geri Bonzon-Keenan County Attorney
Resolution approving revised mutual aid agreement for voluntary cooperation and operational assistance; directing the County Mayor to exercise cancellation provision in existing mutual aid agreement for voluntary cooperation and operational assistance; authorizing the County Mayor to execute the revised mutual aid agreement with select governing bodies and their respective law enforcement agencies and exercise all provisions contained therein; and requiring written notification when the County Mayor authorizes provision of mutual aid pursuant to agreement
Test of the Proposed Resolution:
Both Documents were received from Mr. Ignacio 'Iggy' Alvarez, running for Miami-Dade County Sheriff...
Document #1: 07-16-2024 Proposed Miami Dade County Resolution
Document #2: Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Agreement Between Miami-Dade County and -Participating Entity - For Voluntary Cooperation and Operational Assistance https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7220228950071881728/?originTrackingId=aBlAH92qSCWal7ApyrmdSw%3D%3D
07-19-2024 Email received at 12:12 PM:
Hope, ?
Please find the requested information. I am not sure why Chairman Gilbert was trying to push this without any advanced warning or input from the Dade Chiefs, but it was deferred until September so now the Dade Chiefs have the opportunity to discuss with the County. ?
Let me know if you have any other questions.?
Best, Ignacio
My Replay email:
Ignacio: Thank you for sending me the information.
Questions:
Miami Beach has spring break troubles and they are trying to get Miami Beach to pay for the Police overtime and any major event if any would occur...
But... The County of Miami-Dade is the original body who formed all these 'attractions' and sells the County for its beaches and now sports auditoriums...
The County is trying to detach and keep a bulk budget for what, if not for these very issues...?
Safety is the #1 priority of government but it does not mean that every Municipality would have to create their own police department that would fracture intelligence and coordination, re-inventing the wheel in every corner
The key is to realize the Sheriff is a Constitutional Office which means the Sheriff will be the shield that protects our Constitutional Rights...
So... in an effort to undermine the Sheriff, now independent from politics and undue County influence the County may be trying to inundate the Sheriff with new problems of the County's own making...
While you are an attorney, running for the office of the Sheriff, the ideal would be to gather?all other candidates and create a shield for protection for the future office of the sheriff to make sure a CONSOLIDATED effort be initiated to prevent these and other moves...
Let us know, as constituents and rather active residents, we can only write often and much but given the pen is mightier than the sword... we must get to the bottom of this...
I will write this very email as a comment to you, thanking you for providing the below shared information
Thanks again,
Final reply from Mr. Alvarez, Ignacio 'Iggy' @ 02:33 PM
Hope, ?
领英推荐
Responses to your question:
Please follow me on Instagram (@ignacioalvarezforsheriff) to learn more about me and keep tab on our campaign.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Best,
Ignacio
Political Cortadito's Article:
So... what did the article say?
Spring Break lockdown cost the county $1 million
Link:?https://www.politicalcortadito.com/2024/07/16/miami-dade-mutual-aid-agreement-municipal-police-forces/?
In what has been described as a slap in the face by many municipal police departments, Miami-Dade County Commissioners on Tuesday could significantly revise their mutual aid agreements with municipal police departments to hold the county free of any responsibility when providing aid — though not the smaller agencies when its vice versa — and to charge municipalities for any long-term assistance that ends up costing the county, well, more than the usual.
And they might rush it through, even though the county police department will soon fall under the purview of a new elected sheriff.?
This has nothing to do with the chaos at the Copa America final Sunday at the Hard Rock stadium. This agreement was drafted before that. But it is the result of the Spring Break chaos in Miami Beach, which apparently cost the county about $1 million on security measures, said Commission Chairman?Oliver Gilbert, who is sponsoring the change.
There were not too many details Monday evening during or after a zoom meeting between Chairman Gilbert and the chiefs of more than a dozen municipal police departments, including West Miami Police Chief?Pedro “Pete” Delgado, president of the Miami-Dade County Association of Chiefs of Police.?
“It is the opinion of the Association that the proposed agreement is untenable, as it is grossly burdensome to the municipalities and disproportionately balanced in favor of Miami Dade County,” Delgado wrote in a letter sent to the mayor on Friday.
West Miami Chief Pedro “Pete” Delgado is president of the Miami-Dade County Association of Chiefs of Police.
“For example, under the present operative agreement, the Agencies bear the?costs for, and liabilities of, their own employees. Under the proposed Agreement, the?personnel costs for the assisting agency are imposed upon the police department needing? assistance. The smaller municipal agencies lack the resources of Miami-Dade County and its?police department and therefore rely upon the County more heavily and frequently than Miami-Dade relies upon the smaller municipalities,” Delgado wrote.
“The Agreement is sought to be approved quickly,?cancelling the present operative agreement and imposing costs the municipalities have not? planned nor budgeted for. Responsibility for one’s own costs is reasonable. Responsibility for the?burden of another’s expenses is not.”
Also, he said, the indemnification clause in the new agreement “is grossly inequitable,” Delgado wrote.
“To require the municipalities to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend the county from any and all liability and damages arising from actions taken under this Agreement when? the?municipalities need the County’s help, yet hold each party responsible for the actions of their own employees when the?County needs the cities’ help, unnecessarily imposes a? disparate amount of liability and expense upon the municipality?and its insurers?– obligations?the municipal insurers have not – and likely would not – agree to.
“To be more succinct: this? indemnification clause is punitive.?
Delgado said the new agreement might also violate state law that prohibits one agency from holding another responsible. Furthermore, the change was made without consulting any municipality, he said.
“Miami-Dade County’s municipal police departments share a unique camaraderie and sense of teamwork that is the envy of other jurisdictions. Our cities are too numerous and too?intertwined, and our residents and visitors are too transient, for our Agencies?not?to work together,” Delgado wrote in Friday’s letter. “Agreements such as this weaken the fabric of our law enforcement community, and? thus our effectiveness, at a time we can least afford it.
“What is most puzzling are the? unanswered questions as to why:?
Why this??
Why now??
Why so fast??
Why these terms??
Why? has there been no discussion with us?
Why the lack of courtesy of a ‘heads up’ so our governing bodies can plan accordingly?”
On the zoom call, many police chiefs were quiet. But those who spoke almost begged Gilbert to at least delay the new agreement.
Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak
“Some of the trepidation you’re seeing is, as chiefs, we may be dealing with this with an entirely different entity in a year,” said Coral Gables Chief?Ed Hudak, who was particularly worried about the indemnification clause and also the aid received in possible future demonstrations. Apple recently moved its offices to the Gables. So did FIFA.?
“If I have protests coming up… I’m going to have to approach our city administration and tell them we may have costs,” Hudak said. “We need some time to digest this.”
Doral Chief?Edwin Lopez?gave the Donald Trump rally in his city just recently as an example. There were 80 Doral officers and 50 to 60 Miami-Dade officers. Small municipalities just cannot handle large events like those alone.?
Chief?Raleigh Flowers?said there were “so many moving parts” to the agreement that the change should be continued until they “sit down with the new sheriff and iron things out.”
Miami Shores Capt.?Christine Herbert?also asked Gilbert to defer it.
“We have a budget workshop tonight. Our budget is pretty much set,” Herbert said. “For us, it’s very late in the game and had zero notice.”
Gilbert was unmoved. At times, he seemed bored with the chiefs’ arguments. He said protests would still be covered, for free, and that most of the concerns the chiefs had were not “implicated” in the new agreement.
“You don’t have to sign the mutual aid agreement. It still has to go to your board,” he said. “It’s not unfair. It’s just a departure of what we’ve done previously.”
Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Oliver Gilbert
He said the county was looking to save dollars anywhere during this budget process.
“It’s a tight budget. I’m not just doing this for the fun of it,” Gilbert said, adding that precisely because it was budget time, it’s the right time to do this. It could affect the budget in Miami Beach, for example.
?“They’re the cases that actually brought to light how much we are spending on this,” Gilbert said. “If you lock down a city for a week and it costs us $1 million, we can’t do that over and over again.”
He said that whenever the sheriff comes on board, she or he or they are a “child of the general fund,” and would also be subject to such costs. “I need to be able to stop the hemorrhaging,” Gilbert said.
Only one of the candidates for sheriff was on the zoom call. Former MDPD Maj.?Ignacio “Iggy” Alvarez, who is now an attorney and reads agreements differently, told Ladra that the agreement was lopsided.
And potentially dangerous.?
“The one way indemnity clause is nothing more than a transfer of liability to the smaller municipalities, which will cause the costs for service on soliciting to dramatically increase for them,” Alvarez said. “This change will cause the city not to be able to afford a request of assistance from MDPD and not afford when needing to ask for assistance if a situation occurs within their jurisdiction.
“I do not see any municipality agreeing to this. In a major event or emergency situation this will only lead to less police officers available to handle the event or crisis, and hurts the safety of citizens.”
Delgado said the association is not entirely opposed to the new agreement, just certain terms within. He is likely to ask for a deferral of the item on Tuesday. Gilbert said there would be some changes made to the agreement and that a new version would be sent over Monday.
But early Monday evening, attorney?Joe Natiello, who represents several police departments in Miami-Dade, said he had not yet gotten a revised agreement.?
“I don’t know why they’re doing this. It’s never been fully explained,” Natiello told Political Cortadito.?
“We’re hoping that they defer this agenda item until the police chiefs and their municipalities have the opportunity to come to the table and take part in the terms of an agreement we are to be a party of.”
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at County Hall and can be?viewed online at the county website.?
Miami-Dade seeks to change mutual aid agreement with municipal police forces?added by?Ladra?on?July 16, 2024 View all posts by Ladra →
5 Responses to "Miami-Dade seeks to change mutual aid agreement with municipal police forces"
The comments I received demonstrate that people do not know how the County Government works and how the Mayor administers departments but the items on the Agenda are submitted by Commissioners, the article has been revised to no longer have Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's photo which leads to erroneous perception on the part of the readers.
Again, thanks to Deputy Chief of Staff Tomas Alcala for his vigilance, dedication to read all messages received and to always communicate to ensure clarity, awareness and an educated public! We sincerely appreciate it!
07-18-2024 Comment received from Town of Miami Lakes Resident Martha Gonzalez: Chief Raleigh Flowers said there were “so many moving parts” to the agreement that the change should be continued until they “sit down with the new sheriff and iron things out.” Miami Shores Capt. Christine Herbert also asked Gilbert to defer it. “We have a budget workshop tonight. Our budget is pretty much set,” Herbert said. “For us, it’s very late in the game and had zero notice.” Gilbert was unmoved. At times, he seemed bored with the chiefs’ arguments. He said protests would still be covered, for free, and that most of the concerns the chiefs had were not “implicated” in the new agreement.
“You don’t have to sign the mutual aid agreement.
It still has to go to your board,” he said.
“It’s not unfair.
It’s just a departure from what we’ve done previously.”
AGAIN: What is really going on here?