I finally figured it out. Village Manager Lombardi has selected the new Police Chief. His name is not Hohensee, it is Lombardi. This is not a game, it is dead serious business. Our micromanaging Manager has picked a subordinate who he can control just as he did with Chief Davis. I am not shocked but I am mad because the Village Administration has done its best in recent times to deceive our residents about our Police Department. The abundance of happy face news articles about crime statistics have lulled people into a false sense of security. While we have had great success in our new Village in many respects, we have allowed a climate of fear, insecurity and unacceptably low levels of service, especially in our Police Department, to develop. The buck stops at the top with the Village Council and the Mayor’s surrogate, Mr. Lombardi.

What am I mad about? How about the high number of break-ins, burglaries and driveway robberies including a number of which are not reported to the public? How about a police department which has been provided with over 40% of our budget but cannot hire enough police officers because they do not want to work for us due to our reputation in the police community? How about a police department which barely communicates with Metro-Dade and other seasoned public safety departments? How about officers who feel that they can’t confide in their superiors or even make suggestions, without being disciplined and forced to leave the department? Examples?  Try Officer Mark Frieder who was last year’s Officer of the Year and he somehow became this year’s bum. He left the Pinecrest Police and has since become an officer in Aventura with commendations to his credit. We have probably the highest turnover of police of any municipality in this area. Our officers fear that their lives are in jeopardy because of faulty radio equipment, vehicle failure and a lack of experienced dispatchers. Crime statistics are withheld from us because our Manager is afraid that he and the Village Council will look bad.

My neighbor was recently burglarized. She had a meeting the other night and about 30 neighbors attended. Mr. Lombardi and Police Commander Liotti were there in an effort to placate people who were deeply concerned because of neighborhood burglaries, muggings and other incidents. I spoke to at least 7 of the people who attended and they were not placated. They were disturbed about Mr. Lombardi’s responses (or lack thereof). The crime statistics which were meant to have a calming effect upset people even more and, worse, was his attitude that these are average statistics which we should be happy with. I am not happy.

This Village was founded primarily to get better police protection. To get “saturation” police patrols with high visibility. Many people gave up neighborhood off duty police patrols because we now had our own police department with lots of police and vehicles. So where are they? And where are the seasoned officers who have the crime scene skills? (Coral Gables had to be called in to investigate my neighbor’s crime scene). The night of the meeting, another resident was mugged and suffered serious bodily injury 9 blocks away near 112th Street in a driveway robbery. I spoke to her at length and she was incredibly gracious about the situation but she realized that she had been lulled into a false sense of security. She went to her Bank to deal with her stolen credit cards and checks and she learned that Nationsbank at Suniland had just been robbed. She went up the highway to Eckerd’s to get Tylenol for pain for her head injury and she learned that Eckerd’s had just been robbed. The word is that the Administration tells our officers not to patrol along U.S. 1.

Don’t blame the vast majority of our police officers. These people have their hearts and minds in the right place. They pray for a commanding officer who they can rely on and respect, instead of puppets who are powerless and who can’t help them when they cry out for the most basic support, equipment and encouragement. If the Village Council is spending as much as possible to assure saturation police coverage and public safety, then why don’t we have it? Why are we understaffed, why do we have bad moral, and why don’t most residents really know the true story.

This isn’t a question of spending more on police, instead of spending money on trees. It is a question of why are trees a higher priority than the safety and security of our residents and our police officers. We are not an island. Crime enters our Village from other areas and we must accept this and maintain high visibility of police, not just landscaping.

I ask my colleagues and the Mayor not to act like politicians who are concerned about image. Let’s not be embarrassed about our problems, let’s deal with them. Let’s make Mr. Lombardi accountable. Because our residents come first, we must make sure that our police officers also come first. We need to root out and correct the conditions which have created a second rate Police Department.

Openly or anonymously, I urge you to share your thoughts in writing with the Village Council. I am not willing to accept average crime statistics or an Administration which hides facts and fails to effectively address issues of public safety. I hope that you won’t either.

My phone number is (305) 381-7979 Ext. 309; Fax (305) 371-6816; E-Mail address BLAXBERG@BLAXGRAY.COM