The ink is barely dry on the freshly executed City of North Miami Beach Resolution R2015-8, which permanently bans the use of mugshots for Police Department sniper training. The City Council passed this Resolution 6-1, with Councilcritter Frantz Pierre being the sole “no” vote.
Despite assurances given by the Police Chief, City Manager, Mayor and Council (except Frantzie) that this regrettable incident will never happen again, there are still those who are calling for Chief Scott Dennis’ resignation over the department’s policies.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but I don’t see this story going away any time soon.
According to one local radio personality, however, another top cop in northeast Miami-Dade County might also be in hot water.
Over the last two days, Rotschill Anderson focused his 30 minute radio broadcasts on the problems of not only the NMBPD, but also insinuated that trouble was brewing for North Miami Police Chief Leonard Burgess over one of his department’s policies. Specifically one that allows the retention of a police officer who allegedly should have lost the privilege to wear the badge a long time ago.
The radio host was reluctant to give specific details, claiming that an “American media station” was working on an exclusive – and explosive – story that would ultimately spell trouble for the Chief, not to mention become a huge embarrassment for the City of North Miami. All Mr. Anderson would allude to is that there might be a “bad cop” on the department, that the Chief is well aware of the situation, and that he has yet to take appropriate action.
He told his listeners that he could think of only two reasons why this particular cop hasn’t been fired yet.
Anderson hypothesized that by keeping a “bad cop” on the force, who happens to be Haitian, maybe it’s the Chief’s intention to embarrass the Haitian community. He explained, “By having a problem cop on the department, he’s insinuating that all Haitians are crooks.”
Or perhaps, Anderson speculated, it’s just normal practice for the North Miami Police Department to keep “bad cops” on the payroll.
Whoa! Take no prisoners, Rotschill!
This is not the first time the radio host has been critical of Chief Leonard Burgess.
When it came to light that former mayoral candidate Kevin Burns was driving around town in his “campaign fire truck” with an illegal city issued temporary license tag for over five months without being cited by the Police Department, the radio host demanded answers.
None were forthcoming.
And here I thought I was the only media person blacklisted by the North Miami Public Records Department. Glad to know it’s not personal.
To Rotschill Anderson, however, it’s very personal. He believes that even one “crooked” Haitian police officer is too many, and that if Chief Burgess doesn’t fire him, it’s an insult to the entire Haitian community.
The host emphatically stated, “Morality is morality. Don’t keep a bad cop!”
Well, this story certainly bears watching.
You can bet I’ll be doing just that.
Trust me. It will be my pleasure!
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Having a ‘bad cop’ on the force, no matter the ethnicity, is a BAD policy.
Tell that to the Chief.
Why is this chief keeping a bad cop in the PD if he knows this is a problem? There is so much bad news now about cops I think the chief should make sure there are only good cops in North Miami. If this bad cop does something wrong and the city knew he was rotten, we could be sued. He needs to be fired. Whoever is protecting this cop should be fired too.
Politics in the North Miami city hall and now the Police Department, so what else is knew. Nothing surprises me especially when it comes to African Americans vs Haitian Americans. Has everyone forgot Rolle vs Monestime? If a Haitian supported an African American candidate they might as well have sold their soul to the devil. Being that there are so many Haitians in North Miami apparently the Chief thinks that if the bad cop is fired, the Haitian Community will be up in arms. And so what if they are? I’m sure the City Manager and the Mayor and Council wants the best on their force and if they find out that the Chief is keeping a bad cop in the NMPD for the his self serving purposes, I sure hope they know which door to show him.
Why would any police force choose to keep a “bad cop” on the payroll? It wouldn’t, so the answer probably lies in the difficulty removing a union protected public servant from any position. The motives ascribed by the aforementioned radio host are laughable-keep a Haitian cop to make all Haitians look bad? Keep a Haitian cop because he is a Haitian? Did anyone ask Chief Burgess why this “criminal”, who has been on the force many more years than Burgess has been chief, is still employed? He might be able to enlighten all of us.
Chief Burgess is doing nothing more than trying to appease the Haitians. You can tell by how often he will let you know that his wife is Haitian. If you happen to say “Good morning” to the man he’ll reply “My wife is Haitian”. Somehow he thinks it’s his ticket to the inner circle. He’s so misguided that he thinks if he fires this guy he will piss them off. This officer managed to cozy up to Andre Pierre (groan, yes him again) and was sent on trips to Haiti and other special functions. Burgess believes he has some pull and doesn’t want to rock the boat.
This officer is garbage. He has a history of using the city computers to run driver licenses and tags for personal use. Mostly for stalking women and anyone he has a conflict with. A cop can lose his certification for this, yet North Miami has caught this guy red handed and has done nothing about it. He should have been fired a long time ago and if FDLE got wind of it they wouldn’t be happy. When he spots attractive women he takes their tag number then runs a check to get an address and ends up showing up at their home. He looks like someone who got his lunch money stolen from him every day at school. Short, fat, color blind with glasses but, now that he has a badge he feels six feet tall and a total ladies man. This guy is a weirdo extraordinaire and North Miami is going to get a big surprise the day he gets arrested for rape or worse. He has a history of domestic issues with women which North Miami is turning a blind eye to. Then there are the times when he uses the information in order to track down people and act as a little henchman for his girlfriend. The computers are his own personal little information system, he’s even gotten other officers unwittingly involved by asking them to run checks on people so that he circumvents the system.
You can see it all in his employee file which is two feet thick. Oh wait, no you can’t, because Burgess will stonewall your public record request. I think that Ross Palumbo will eventually expose everything that Burgess has done to try and hide the truth and it’s going to bite him in the proverbial butt. Burgess ignored recommendations to fire the guy time and time again and is exposing the city to legal action for negligent retention. Look it up. Yep, that exists.
Aleem Ghany is nobody’s fool and he’s likely to wake up one day and just get rid of both of them, promote Gary Eugene and put an end to all of this foolishness. The new City Manager is determined to set North Miami on the right course and he isn’t going to be brought down by the likes of a goofball like Lenny Burgess.
Chief Burgess needs to start running the department like a professional organization. The executive offices are more like a frat house than a police department and it starts from the top. Take a look at any function and you’ll see so much shoulder rubbing, massaging, and hugging going on that you’d think you’re in a support group in California.
Chief Burgess needs to get his head out from under his secretary’s skirt long enough to see what’s going on around him. (Now there’s a whole other subject that could take an interesting turn when she slaps the city with a sexual harassment suit.) She dresses like a hooker and is setting the groundwork for a good case. With Burgess’ history in Miami Dade County that could make for a nice payday for her. Maybe ‘ol Chiefy needs to think about putting an end to all the grabassasing and start running the place like a professional agency.
Wow! I’m almost speechless!
Almost, but not quite. Here’s the thing. I remember seeing that story by Channel 10 last May, and I thought it would be interesting to keep tabs on it. I almost forgot about it because I usually only cover politics, not police matters. But when Anderson Rotchill covered it last week (and also mentioned Kevin Burns’ red fire truck in one of his previous broadcasts), it piqued my interest. It occurred to me then that there might be a political connection as well. I’m usually right about that, especially when something smells fishy. I’ll be keeping tabs on this story!
Here is the original story aired by Channel 10 on May 14, 2014.
http://www.local10.com/news/woman-claims-north-miami-police-officer-threatened-her/25980698
It is extremely disturbing to read that North Miami police officer Jodlyn Antoine is of sub-standard character. Obviously, this is not the quality of individual anybody in this city deserves. As a resident of North Miami and a taxpayer, I demand that our police officers be beyond reproach. If Burgess is unable to handle his office properly, then it’s time for his replacement.
If what I heard about this cop is true (and my sources are usually on the money), this guy appears to be a predator who seems to target mostly Haitian women.
It would be way too easy for someone who has access to the DHSMV database to get a woman’s home address and then show up at her door unannounced and uninvited. How creepy is that?
Beyond the creep factor, it’s freaking scary when a woman can’t trust the very police officers she should be able to turn to for help.
If Burgess is aware of this officer’s alleged behavior and has done nothing to protect the public, he will be ultimately and solely responsible if something bad happens. He’ll also have some serious ‘splainin’ to do about why he didn’t fire this dude.
Just saying.