As I first reported to you in Rumors?, two North Miami cops claimed they were hired by Opa-locka city manager Kelvin Baker to fill the positions of chief and deputy chief, only to be told “You lie!” by Baker after they publicly announced they got the jobs.  When Commander Jeffrey Key was invited to speak at a press conference announcing his new job as chief of police, it was the media’s chance to tell Baker, “You lie!”

Only, they didn’t.

As Random Pixels noted, they were too busy reporting that the new chief “wasted no time in announcing that his top priority was to “reduce crime” in the 4.1 square-mile municipality,” at the same time their cars were being broken into and vandalized.

Gotta love Opa-locka!

Until now, no one knew the fate of the other cop that Baker also denied hiring.  As reported by the Miami Herald’s Nadage Green, the Candidate for Opa-locka deputy chief has a long disciplinary file.  That shouldn’t be a problem, though.  The way Baker runs Opa-locka, Peter Cruz will fit right in.

According to the article, since 1985 Officer Cruz had “24 disciplinary cases against him,” thereby breaking the outgoing chief’s record by two.  She had 22 charges filed against her even before she got the job of Top Dawg.  That accomplishment alone should automatically qualify Cruz for the position of Deputy Top Dawg.

Yup.  Gotta love Opa-locka!

When I published the first column about this fiasco, I had understandably, but naively, assumed that the cops were the good guys and that Baker really screwed them over.  As it turns out, several North Miami cops called and wrote me to set the record straight.  Apparently the NMPD had been trying to figure out a way to get rid of those two cops for a long time and were only too happy that Opa-locka wanted them.  I had no way of knowing at the time about Cruz’ “lengthy internal affairs file.”  (As we speak, L’il Frantzie P is trying to beat his record.)

One cop was so horrified at my suggestion that Chief Elias consider rehiring them that he called me immediately and yelled, “Nooooooooo!  Steph, we don’t want them back!  We’ll take Phyllis instead!”

Okay, I made that last part up.  He really doesn’t want Phyllis.  That was just wishful thinking on my part.

Word on the North Miami street is that Commander Key is as dumb as a box of rocks and Peter Cruz, well, his Baker’s Double Dirty Dozen record speaks for itself.

Kelvin Baker runs the City of Opa-locka.  Hiring these two cops to run his police department will be a match made in heaven.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”