Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Times
Saturday, January 29, 1977, page 3 (of 23)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
Police study attacked City manager denies accusation
By EDWIN KNIGHT Staff Writer South Miami City Manager Jack Present has denied allegations that a probe of the city's police department is a "whitewash". The accusation was made by several former South Miami police officers, who are in the hierarchy of the South Miami lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). The latest FOP barrage is part of a long dispute between the former officers, most of whom were fired from the city's police department and the city's administration. The dispute led Present to call for an evaluation of the police department to determine the cause of a reported morale problem within the department. Although the evaluation is barely underway, the former officers have charged the city manager with seeking a superficial report which will "whitewash" the police department's personnel problems. "The allegations are totally false," the city manager angrily declared upon learning of the FOP charges. "I have before me the agreement between the city and the International Association of Police Chiefs (IAPC) (which is conducting the study) which calls for everything I said it would." The eight-page contract between the city and the IAPC calls for the evaluators to include in-depth studies and recommendations in the areas of leadership, supervision, discipline and morale, personnel administration, promotion, performance evaluations, employee relations and disciplinary procedures. The FOP officials have accused the city manager of directing the probing IAPC representatives to simply do a management distribution and organizational study of the police department. The FOP allegations include statements from a representative of the IAPC, William Dean, that the study will only deal with organizational structure and a determination of which departmental areas are spending too much money. "When I read the charges in one of the papers," the city manager said, "I called Bill Dean for an account of what he told the FOP. Dean said that he made no such statements and is sending me a letter to that effect." Present said the evaluation of the police department is aimed at getting to the bottom of any personnel and morale problems within the department. "The city is spending $10,000 to find out if anything is wrong within the department," the city manager explained. "Why would I want a whitewash if I wanted to learn the truth? "The International Association of Police Chiefs is the most reputable firm we could find to evaluate the police department, there is a contract between the IAPC and the city to determine whether there are any personnel problems, and the FOP is entirely wrong on this." Long-standing allegations from the former police officers are that the police department has a high rate of personnel turnover and a morale problem due to the administrative policies of Police Chief Sal Vizzini. The former officers also allege that involvement in the South Miami FOP lodge is tantamount to harassment or dismissal on trumped up charges. The police administration has steadfastly denied these charges.
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