Ortiz is making the comeback try after he was fired from the division in September for allegedly having subordinate sergeants log off on his extra time.
“One of the principle points that I see that’s proper now plaguing our police division is the disparate therapy of Black officers and employees members. It’s no secret now we have employees members being written up as a result of their nails are too lengthy [and] allegations they have been instructed they gotta have their hair in a sure means,” Ortiz says.
Ortiz claims within the video he was nominated for 5 positions on the final Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 20 assembly.
“FOP has been compromised,” Ortiz asserts. “There’s no unity and that’s actually one thing that has drawn me to run.”
Ortiz’s considerations over racial equality may come as a shock to those that adopted his 2020 suspension. He spent most of that 12 months off-duty pending a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigation into then-current and former sergeants claims that he had “engaged in a sample of abuse and bias towards minorities.”
In January 2020, he spawned nationwide headlines over his claims that he’s “a Black man” beneath the “one drop rule,” an antiquated racial classification system.
Ortiz served because the Miami Fraternal Order of Police’s president from 2011 till his resignation from the place in late 2017. In 2020, whereas on suspension pending the FDLE investigation, Ortiz ran to reclaim the place on the helm of the union, however misplaced to present union president Sergeant Tommy Reyes.
Reyes confirmed with New Times that as a result of Ortiz is interesting his firing, the previous police captain remains to be a member of Lodge 20 and is subsequently eligible to run for union president.
In his announcement video, Ortiz claims he plans to stay up for Black officers who will not be getting the identical authorized illustration as white officers. He says that as president, he’ll rent “the very best civil rights legislation agency cash should purchase to defend minority officers.” (The video doesn’t repeat Ortiz’s prior insistence that he’s African American.)
Ortiz goes on to say he can even make it a precedence to analyze violations of the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.
He sued the Miami Police Department in August, alleging the division violated his rights as a result of its inside investigations exceeded the utmost 180-day window. At that point, he was beneath investigation in reference to the accusation that he violated division extra time coverage.
“I can converse firsthand that my rights had been violated and if it wasn’t for the South Florida Police Benevolent Association representing me, I do not know what I used to be going to do,” Ortiz provides.
Since becoming a member of the Miami Police Department in 2004, Ortiz collected greater than 50 citizen complaints, 20 use-of-force incidents, and three suspensions with out pay. He was engulfed in numerous controversies, starting from his doxxing of personal residents, to feedback justifying police shootings, to complaints that he used extreme pressure towards civilians.
In January 2021, town accredited a $100,000 settlement with a girl who claimed Ortiz knocked her to the bottom and broke her wrist at Miami Art Week in 2019.Â
In the latest video, Ortiz seems assured he will likely be reinstated.
“I do know I’m going to get my job again,” Ortiz says. “I have never completed something improper.”
He argues that he’s preventing “for the method, not the particular person.”
“I struggle for what’s proper. It’s by no means straightforward to do the precise factor,” Ortiz provides. “I’m asking so that you can give me an opportunity to make things better. I’m right here to pay attention.”