Miami’s most infamous police officer, captain Javier Ortiz has finally been suspended pending civil and criminal investigations, following years of allegations regarding racial profiling and abuse of power.
Ortiz’s personnel file has accumulated 51 complaints since the Miami Police Department hired him in March of 2004. Some of the complaints are currently pending dispositions. According to the Miami Times, the Civilian Investigative Panel sent two of the cases for further review to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on December 17th, 2019.
The assistant director of the Civilian Investigative Panel, Rodney W. Jacobs Jr., said that the number of complaints against Ortiz is much more than average.
“He by far exceeds any officer in terms of complaints in the city of Miami Police,” Jacobs explained.
Ultimately, the decision was made to suspend Ortiz with pay until an investigation was completed.
His suspension also follows the bizarre January 17th Miami city hall meeting, where the officer faced the city council and referred to himself as a “black male.”
