Adding to the New Professionalism Pile

A South Florida cop steals money and drugs from the people he arrests, and the local internal affairs folks need three years to bring him down.

And only after he nearly killed a man who was attempting to defend his own business from a robber this past Valentine’s Day.

A Miami-Dade Police Officer is under investigation for grand theft charges and another controversial incident that left a man hospitalized for several weeks.
Jose Rodriguez was shot multiple times by, who he said was, Miami-Dade Police Officer Jesus Hernandez on Feb. 14. As a result, Rodriguez lost a large portion of his intestine.
Rodriguez ran a business, and on Valentine’s Day, an alarm company contacted him to let him know his business was being robbed. Rodriguez, who has a permit to carry a gun, was armed as he arrived at his business. At the time, he said he didn’t see a police officer, and then, he said, Hernandez fired at him from behind. “I got off my vehicle to try to hold the guy until the police get there, and the next thing I know, I’m getting shot. I land on the floor, I end up seeing I got shot by a police officer.”
A news conference was held Friday by Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker about officer Hernandez, while Rodriguez continued his recovery. According to Parker, internal affairs officers have been investigating Hernandez, 24, for the past three years.
Investigators arrested and charged him with shaking down criminal suspects after he pulled an undercover officer over during a sting operation targeting Hernandez. After Hernandez stole cash and drugs from the officer, police arrested him. “The fact that he continued to do this and obviously did not choose to stop after a number of investigations, and after he was interviewed a number of times, it speaks to his boldness,” said Parker.
Police said Hernandez has been relieved of duty, and they also said he’s not authorized by Miami-Dade to carry out the duties of a law enforcement officer, pending the outcome of the investigation into the theft charges.

Aren’t you glad that he’s not authorized by Miami-Dade to carry out the duties of a law enforcement officer, pending the outcome of the investigation. Aren’t you glad of the new professionalism exemplified by the Miami Dade Police?

The article, as posted, doesn’t even hint at the anger expressed by Rodriguez in an on air interview, in which he essentially said, How the F– could you let this guy be a cop!

Update 4/25: Welcome to all Agitator readers.

The circus up in Tallahassee

This is my state legislature in action.

Rich’s legislation would target only those who derived or helped others derive ‘’sexual gratification” from an animal, specifying that conventional dog-judging contests and animal-husbandry practices are permissible.
That last provision tripped up Miami Democratic Sen. Larcenia Bullard.
”People are taking these animals as their husbands? What’s husbandry?” she asked. Some senators stifled their laughter as Sen. Charlie Dean, an Inverness Republican, explained that husbandry is raising and caring for animals. Bullard didn’t get it.
”So that maybe was the reason the lady was so upset about that monkey?” Bullard asked, referring to a Connecticut case where a woman’s suburban chimpanzee went mad and was shot.

Well, this is the state where John Ringling set up his winter operations, resulting in one of the best unknown museums in the state (the other being the Morikami in Delray Beach), and where, as a result, Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey has it training college for clowns.

But there are two frightening things about this: first, not only is she the vice chair of the Agriculatural Committee, but her district covers most of the agricultural sections of South Florida (along with most of the urbanites of the Gold Coast, I live in the green part of the map), although it does include South Miami and the Keys.
and second, this tidbit on her bio page from the Legislature’s website:

Dwight M. Bullard, son, Florida House of Representatives, 2008-present

We are doomed, we are doomed. But I will resist the rhetorical opportunities presented by a person named Larcenia.

H/T Balko

FAIL number two

This is one is not really a subject for humor.

Just as a judge revoked his bond, John Ross bolted from a Broward County courtroom and jumped into a nearby river. Hours later, divers pulled his lifeless body from the New River that runs through downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Ross was out on bond on an aggravated battery with a firearm charge. At the hearing, Judge Cynthia Imperato remanded him back into custody, but before a deputy could handcuff him, Ross took off.
Once outside the courthouse, Ross jumped into the New River near 201 SE 6th Street. Several fully uniformed deputies jumped into the water and began frantically searching the murky water to save him, but they couldn’t find him until it was too late.
……
Castellanos said Ross then asked him if he could make it across the river. Castellanos replied, “You’re not going to be able to because the current is pushing.” He didn’t heed the warning and jumped back into the river.
The moment he dove in, the current got hold of him. Making it worse for him, he may have become a victim of fashion because his baggy jeans seemed to weigh him down.
“I told him he wasn’t going to make it, because the current was pushing really hard and he had tennis shoes on and pants and everything on. It’s really hard for a good swimmer and with all those clothes on, especially tennis shoes and the current pushing that much it’s really kinda hard. I knew he wasn’t going to make it,” said witness Ryan Fitzgerald, the second man on the boat.

BTW, he isn’t even eligible to be nominated for a Darwin Award, since the TV broadcast says he was the father of three children–God have mercy on them!