What should law enforcement leaders make of a retiring officer’s last radio call that went viral for all the wrong reasons? Read Police1 columnist Chief Joel Shults’ take on the issue here.
By Ashley Silver
Police1
MIAMI — It’s not unusual for an officer to announce their retirement over the radio to their fellow officers. However, a recent message aired from a 33-year veteran police sergeant in Miami was out of the ordinary.
According to Local 10 News, Sgt. Madelin Garcia shared the following message with her now-former fellow officers.
“This place was an amazing department to work for until the backstabbing and personal attacks started from my immediate supervisors and the First,” Garcia said. “And if you don’t know who the First is, the First of nothing. To the chief and the First of nothing, you guys are in denial. You think you’re doing an amazing job, but in reality, you have destroyed this police department and the morale, except for your circle, which is definitely [taken] care of.”
Garcia goes on to air her criticisms of former police chief Art Acevedo.
“I thought that Acevedo was bad, but at least one thing is for sure: I knew where he was coming from. To the First, you have a nasty attitude. So do yourself a favor and take some interpersonal skill classes so you know how to treat people right. And finally, to my immediate supervisor, Maj. Garrido. You are a liar, a snake in the grass, a cancer to this department. The hardest thing of being a female in this department was being surrounded by many males knowing that I was more of a man than you.”
She concluded her final radio call by urging current officers to support and take care of each other “because they don’t care about you [or] your family.”
Manolo Reyes, City of Miami commissioner, said an investigation into the issues mentioned by Garcia would be addressed by internal affairs, but he takes issue with the method that the former sergeant used to express her grievances: “It is an internal problem that has to be solved,” Reyes told Local 10. “It is unfortunate that it happened that way, but there is nothing we can do about it. It happened.”
The Miami PD responded with the following statement: “The Miami Police Department is aware of a radio transmission involving a police sergeant. We are currently reviewing the incident; therefore no further comment will be made at this time.”
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