The two different candidates, present union president Tommy Reyes and vp Felix Del Rosario, are headed to a runoff election after neither secured greater than 50 % of the vote.
Ortiz acquired 337 votes, whereas Del Rosario and Reyes garnered 452 and 554 votes, respectively.
In a marketing campaign video, Ortiz, who was fired in September for alleged improper time beyond regulation pay practices, vowed to deal with discriminatory therapy that he says is plaguing Black officers within the Miami Police Department (MPD).
“FOP has been compromised,” Ortiz stated within the video. “There’s no unity and that’s actually one thing that has drawn me to run.”
Ortiz beforehand served as union president of Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 20 from 2011 to late 2017.
Earlier this month, Reyes confirmed with New Times that as a result of Ortiz is interesting his firing, he remained a member of Lodge 20 and was due to this fact eligible to run for union president.
Though he promoted a racial justice platform, Ortiz confronted quite a few accusations of racially insensitive habits and prejudice by residents and fellow officers whereas on the pressure. The controversial cop was suspended for greater than a 12 months, starting in early 2020, pending a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigation into allegations that he focused minorities as an officer.
During a metropolis fee assembly in 2020, after it got here to gentle that he claimed to be Black on two promotional functions, the Hispanic and white officer insisted he’s African American beneath the antiquated “one drop rule.”
Over his 18 years on the pressure, Ortiz tallied greater than 50 citizen complaints and 20 use-of-force incidents.
Sergeant Reyes has been with the Miami Police Department since 2006, serving within the theft unit and as a neighborhood useful resource officer, amongst different positions. He gained recognition amongst MPD officers when he resisted division pay cuts throughout the pandemic.
The sergeant beforehand beat out Ortiz for FOP president in a 2021 election after Ortiz mounted a marketing campaign whereas he was nonetheless suspended.
Reyes has been embroiled in controversy of his personal this 12 months.
He was suspended with pay for a lot of 2022 as inner affairs investigated a Tallahassee incident by which Reyes pulled a gun on a Grindr date who allegedly stole his police badge and pockets. After discovering Reyes violated departmental orders, inner affairs really helpful a 40-hour suspension.
However, Chief Manuel Morales had the ultimate say. As reported by WLRN, the chief wrote in his reprimand that Reyes “was a sufferer of a felonious crime,” and that he would obtain a 20-hour suspension with out pay.