In his resignation letter, the outgoing North Miami Chief of Police Leonard Burgess claims that he made North Miami “a safer place to live, learn, work and play.”
Let’s put that statement to a “PolitiFact” test to determine whether it’s true or not.
Miami Agent Magazine recently posted its NeighborhoodScout’s 2016 Top 100 Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. list. The list was based on the violent crime rates for cities with a population of 25,000 or more.
It’s important to note that this list is based on the FBI’s most recent crime stats for 2014, the same year Leonard Burgess became the North Miami Chief of Police. (The stats for 2015 will not be published until this September.)
Coming in at No. 1 on the list for the fifth year in a row is East St. Louis, Illinois.
The article also states, “Maintaining its 2015 spot, Miami was again named the No. 63 most dangerous city in the U.S., followed closely by Miami Beach at No. 72 and North Miami at No. 86.”
Think about that for a moment.
Of the 1,679 cities in the United States with populations over 25,000, North Miami is the 86th most dangerous in the country.
A total of twelve cities in Florida made the top 100 Most Dangerous. These are:
- No. 24 Homestead
- No. 28 Daytona Beach
- No. 40 Riviera Beach
- No. 47 Lake Worth
- No. 54 Fort Myers
- No. 58 Fort Pierce
- No. 63 Miami
- No. 72 Miami Beach
- No. 82 Tallahassee
- No. 86 North Miami
- No. 95 Panama City
- No. 97 Orlando
Opa-locka, which has an even higher per capita crime rate than Homestead, has only 16,460 residents, so it didn’t make this particular list.
Curiously, a few other South Florida cities typically associated with high crime rates didn’t make this year’s list. Those are:
Interestingly, not one city in Broward County made this list. Lauderdale Lakes, however, was listed as No. 90 in 2014 and No. 84 in 2015, but wasn’t in the top 100 this time around.
North Miami, on the other hand, made the list again for the first time since 2013, which was based on the 2011 FBI crime stats.
It’s obviously no coincidence that Lenny became the chief in 2014, the same year these new stats put North Miami back on the list.
By far, however, the most glaring omission on the list is the city that Chief Lenny likes to compare North Miami to … Aventura.
Sorry, Chief Lenny. Yet again we must point out that North Miami is not Aventura.
When compared to North Miami’s violent crime rate of 9.44 per 1,000 residents – nearly double the State of Florida’s rate of 5.40 per 1,000, the City of Aventura’s violent crime rate is 2.08 per 1,000 residents – or less than half of Florida’s.
While these stats don’t take into account non-violent property crimes, which tend to be higher in more affluent cities for obvious reasons (more toys, better bling), a city’s “danger” rating is based on its rate of violent crimes (a/k/a Part I Offenses).
Despite Chief Lenny’s claim that the North Miami Police Department experienced “the lowest total of reported crimes since 1979,” it’s pretty obvious that North Miami residents weren’t imagining a spike in crime in their city. Even though on a national level, violent crime stats reported to the FBI had decreased in 2014 by 0.2 percent from the previous year (and property crimes decreased by 4.3 percent), there is no denying that North Miami’s violent crime rate actually increased when Chief Lenny took over the NMPD.
Heck of a job, Chief Lenny! Heck of a job.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
YEAH!!! He’s gone from here for good. He must not be replaced by one from HIS inner circle!!! It’s tIme for Gary Eugene to bring honor, hard work, honesty, respect, and dignity back to the North Miami Police Department!
Ellen, you are to be commended. It’s because of people like you who take an interest in their local government, especially when their leaders are corrupt, inept, and inefficient, and then demand changes and make them happen. It serves the community well. VotersOpinion and its research team have been inundated with appreciation for your willingness to take a stand.
The Lenny Crew: Juriga, Cardona, Brea. These three have been running this police department along with Burgess for the past years. This is the group that has been running the show and playing the circle jerk while we all watched this city sink lower and lower eventually becoming the cesspool that it is now. Each one of those three has played a part in the bad choices of preventing crime, bad choices for investigating crimes, bad choices for what to do with our resources, bad choices for how to protect our citizens. Each one of three spent more of their time trying to make themselves look good, planning photo ops, and doing everything possible to rub elbows with people they think will serve them and not our citizens or our city.
These three are directly linked to the failure of our police department accreditation because they failed to have their house in order.
Here’s one huge factor for you to think over: We’ve been overrun with crime, the east side isn’t safe, you can’t shop at Publix without worrying about getting robbed and when you wake up you may find your car on blocks, worse yet you could just be the victim of a home invasion and you’re tied up praying you don’t get shot. Guess who has been in charge of the Investigative Section all these years? Guess who is the reason our detectives can’t solve so much as a stolen bicycle case? Guess who has been responsible for the section of our police department that is supposed to “suppress” crime? Assistant Chief Larry Juriga. That’s who. So next time you’re wondering who Lenny’s sidekick was when our home invasion robberies and burglaries were soaring and our crime stats were climbing during the exact same years, look no further. Juriga was the man in charge of Investigations all of those years.
That is true we have Juriga and Cardona over the detectives many years and many friends there. If you’re a friend of theirs you can do no wrong and it’s ok but that’s how it’s always been. People talk about illuminati like its a joke but it’s only a joke for a while until you find out it’s real. Juriga always takes care of his friends and it’s all about golf or fishing not work. Juriga should be a student at north Miami middle school not a chief but that’s how it is.
Interesting factoid: The last time North Miami was on this list was 2013, but it was based on 2011 FBI crime stats. That’s the year that the much maligned Marc Elias became chief. Under his watch, Elias claimed that crime stats were the lowest since 1979 – a stat that Lenny had absolutely nothing to do with. Crime rates were falling nationally, but Marc Elias did help lower crime in the city because (among other things) he focused on actual crime fighting policies instead of Facebook photo-op policing. North Miami’s crime rate started climbing again when Lenny became the chief. The facts speak for themselves. Just saying.
North Miami became flag football, Facebook, walk and talk, shake hands and kiss babies for photo ops when the Lenny/Juriga duo took over. Lenny just wanted to tell the world “my wife is Haitian,” and steroid boy just wants to model boxer shorts and flex for pictures. We’re a laughing stock because of those two. Please Mr Spring put an end to the way things have been done so we can go back to being a real law enforcement agency again!
Law enforcement staff was encouraged to embrace Facebook and other social media outlets as additional tools to combat crime and connect with the community. Facebook isn’t the problem, it’s how Lenny and his people decided to misuse it. In most agencies, the department’s PIO oversees all social media management. Not the case with Lenny. Glad to see he’s gone. This department has been mismanaged for way too long. Hopefully Juriga, and the off duty hogs Brea and Cardona will be gone soon too. Thank you Larry Spring.
Trying to think positive and hoping that we get a new start. Burgess is gone now let’s get some real leadership because we really need it.