F R A T E R N A L th ORDER OF POLICE

710 Southwest 12 Avenue. Miami, Florida 33130 Phone (305) 854-5019 Ortiz@fopmiami.com

For Immediate Release: Contact: Javier Ortiz Phone: 786-290-1183 April 28, 2014

Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado Is Exploiting Our Children's Safety For Votes The Miami Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #20 and the Miami Dade Public Schools Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #133 hold the safety of our children in the City of Miami in the highest regard. We are both disturbed by the thoughtless and obvious politically motivated decision to place older retired police officers in Miami Dade Public Schools. These police officers have not been recently psychologically screened and may not pass the minimum physical standards required of a police officer currently serving the community. They will present, at best, a false sense of security in our schools and, at worst, a potential danger to the safety of our children. After the tragedy in Newton Connecticut in 2012, a renewed call was raised for well qualified police officers to be assigned to area schools. The Fraternal Order of Police is in full agreement with this goal and we are lucky enough in Miami-Dade to have one of the finest public school police departments in the nation. We had previously spoken with the school board leadership and agreed that a sworn, certifiedqualified, able-bodied, police officer should be permanently assigned to every public school. Unfortunately, this is not what is occurring today. City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado has simply begun the political campaign for his successor. He has started to lay the political groundwork for his daughter, School Board Member Raquel Regalado, to inherit his public office upon his departure. By ordering Chief Manuel Orosa to place so called "Safety Officers" in schools, the Mayor believes he will secure additional votes in his daughters upcoming mayoral election. Chief Orosa, who just recently condoned the use of MDMA (Molly) during music events, has decided to hand pick a few of the Mayors political cronies who haven't acted in a police capacity in recent years. The Mayor will simply have these officers placed on the taxpayers payroll, dust off their firearms, don a uniform, and ordain them police officers once again. They will not be vetted, trained nor properly psychologically screened to protect our children. The Fraternal Order of Police is disturbed by the exploitation of our children's safety for the sake of political aspirations and cronyism. It is for these reasons that we will vehemently oppose the placement of retired Miami police officers in Miami Dade Schools. If the person tasked with protecting our most precious assets cannot physically jump a chain link fence and will not be properly equipped to repel an armed assailant, why would we put them there? Miami Politics! We ask the media to inquire about the political appointment of these safety officers. Inquire into their prior employment histories in the department. Ask how long they've been inactive. Ask why the

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psychological screening, medical physicals, and background checks, normally used to screen newly hired police officers are not being utilized. The solution is simple, the school board should assign their specially trained police officers who are physically capable, equipped, and experienced in the specific safety needs of our children. The Fraternal Order of Police will not support the political exploitation of our children's safety. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us at: (305) 219-1282 (786) 290-1183 Lieutenant Howard Giraldo, President, Miami Dade Public Schools FOP Sergeant Javier Ortiz, President, Miami Police FOP

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