On one hand, it’s great to see the president of the Miami police union turn his wrath towards the top brass of the Miami Police Department because it means he has less energy to wave his gun in the faces of citizens as he has done in the past
But on the other hand, it reveals his childlike tendency for sheer pettiness, posting a video on Facebook of an assistant police chief who did not place her hand over her heart during the pledge of allegiance.
The assistant chief, Anita Najiy, was standing at attention in traditional military style, which is acceptable in the army and air force if a person is in indoors and in uniform.
But apparently, it is only acceptable to Ortiz to pledge allegiance to the flag like an elementary school child by placing a hand over your heart.
However, it really isn’t about patriotism for Ortiz, but about money.
The Fraternal Order of Police is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the City of Miami over pay cuts. Earlier this month, theissue went before the Florida Supreme Court.
As assistant chief, one of Najiy’s duties includes overseeing a unit called Budget and Personnel Resource Management.
Ortiz posted the video Friday night with the following description:
Watch a Miami Police “Assistant Chief” refuse to salute our U.S. flag at a ceremony today.
I salute our flag with the rest of the men and women of our Police Department to honor all of those that have died for our country.
And within a few hours, it had been shared hundreds of times with dozens of comments referencing the woman’s race and gender and how she hates the country and the flag and everybody else in uniform.
I don’t know the woman from hell, so I am not in a position to defend her or berate her. As far as I know, she is just another cop, which means she has no use for me. A quick Google search revealed she was one of several black officers who shared a $100,000 settlement from the city after they filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination.
Last year, after serving 31 years on the force, she became the first woman to be promoted to assistant chief in the history of the department. So there’s obviously a lot of office politics here that has nothing to do with Ortiz’s false patriotism.
So I find it highly hypocritical that Ortiz and his cop followers would act so self-righteous about the flag and the country when most of them have absolutely no regard for the U.S. Constitution when they deal with the public. In that regard, they are no different than most cops in this country, which is why this site is filled with endless content.
Here is an excerpt from the Miami New Times describing how much respect Ortiz and his fellow cops have for our rights when they beat up and tased a man visiting Miami for the Ultra Music Festival, then tried to cover it up, resulting in a $400,000 settlement for the victim:
In a lawsuit filed last year, Campodonico claimed the cops beat him, choked him, and threw him to the ground, where they then shot him with a Taser three times.
Campodonico was initially charged with battery, but those charges were eventually dropped.
“There was nothing I could do but try to survive,” Campodonico, told the Miami Herald. “I was trying to cover myself. There was no fighting back. It was just me trying to protect myself from them killing me.”
The cops accused of attacking him, meanwhile, have all been involved in other controversies. Two of them are now in prison: Nathaniel Dauphin and Harold James were convicted of providing police protection for an illegal gambling ring.
Six months after the Ultra altercation, Officer Edward Lugo was [accused of roughing up a woman and her 85-year-old mother](http://egov.ci.miami.fl.us/meetings/2011/11/2304_A_Civilian_Investigative_Panel_11-11-15_Meeting_Agenda_(Long%29.pdf) for crossing a police line to get home. And Sgt. Javier Ortiz — whom Campodonico accused of fabricating a police report to cover up the beating — has been at the center of several controversies as the department’s union president.
So it’s only natural that Ortiz drape himself in the American flag as he is smart enough to know many Americans, especially cops, are dumb enough to worship a flag while having complete disregard for the Constitution.
The flag is symbolic, probably imported from China. It is worn as a lapel pin by politicians who also don’t respect the Constitution. And these pins become fodder for fake rage to distract voters from the real issues at hand.
The Constitution, on the other hand, is the supreme law of the land. It is what Ortiz and all his fellow cops, including that assistant chief he is trying to ridicule – as well as the cops trying to impeach him as president of the union – swore an oath to upon receiving the badge.
The Constitution allows us to burn the flag if we wish. You may not like it, but that’s what the First Amendment is all about. Protecting speech, including unpopular speech, not to mention flipping off cops on duty. And flag burning is viewed by the U.S. Supreme Court as “symbolic expression.”
As sacred as some view the flag, it doesn’t give us a right to destroy the Constitution, no matter how many times these cops salute it or pledge to it, even with their hands over their hearts. And it doesn’t give them the right to violate our Constitutional rights, no matter how much fake patriotism they try express by wrapping themselves in the flag.
And if there so happens to be an official protocol within the Miami Police Department that requires officers to place their hands over their hearts during the pledge, it might also require an officer’s left arm to be held straight down his or her side, which, of course, would have made it impossible to record the video that Ortiz posted online.
