The Miami Police Department reassigned eight police officers and a sergeant to patrol the troubled Liberty Square public housing project, marking the first time a team of cops is assigned specifically to one housing development, interim chief Manuel Orosa announced Wednesday.

There were 13 shootings in Liberty Square in the past two months, making Liberty Square the single most dangerous pocket of the city. In one incident, a 42-year-old man in a wheelchair was killed before dawn Sunday. Another incident left five people injured.

“We need to get the thugs out of there,” Orosa said. “Liberty Square does not belong to them. It belongs to the decent citizens who live there.”

The announcement came two weeks after a Miami Herald report that showed how newly installed surveillance cameras are often broken, and city statistics show the area is the focal point for the city’s drive-by shootings. Four shootings took place there this past weekend alone. Law-abiding renters have to duck for cover when bullets fly into their homes.

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Liberty Square is located in Model City, the neighborhood where about a third of Miami’s murders occur each year. The 750-unit development, which stretches from Northwest 62nd to 67th streets and from Northwest 12th to Northwest 15th avenues, accounts for at least 10 to 15 percent of the city’s shootings, Orosa said.

The department will assign the officers in evening hours when drug sales and violence are most common. Orosa said the approach will be a combination of canine officers taking “their dogs for a stroll,” “officer friendly saying hello to everybody,” and undercover drug operations. They will join the six officers regularly assigned to Model City at any given time, Orosa said.

Beefed up patrols began Tuesday.

“We need to get the safe feeling back to that community,” he said.

Orosa announced the initiative as Miami authorities kicked off interviews for candidates for the city’s top cop. Orosa is among the 10 finalists.

Orosa took over three months ago, after the prior chief, Miguel Exposito, was fired for insubordination. Among Orosa’s first tasks was to reverse Exposito’s policing philosophy of relying on street tactical units, the crime-suppression method blamed for increased shootings of suspects, in favor of community policing. A U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the police shootings.

Orosa reassigned 30 officers to beat patrol jobs and sent 40 public service aides back to the street. Another 41 officers will spend the Christmas shopping season patrolling shopping districts.

The people in Liberty Square demanded increased patrols since the 2006 shooting of a school girl killed by a stray bullet. Asked why it took so long for Liberty Square to get special attention, Orosa said: “I’m here now.”

Tenant Maria Williams said the police and the county housing authority should have acted sooner.

“If they wanted to crack down on crime, they could crack down on crime,” Williams said. “They don’t want to.”

Williams blames the housing authority for not rooting out the tenants who allow groups of unsavory characters to linger outside their apartments. She sent certified letters to the U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development and demanded appointments with chief Orosa, City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones and local HUD chief Gregg Fortner. Nobody replied.