Miami-Dade

Law enforcement

The South Florida cop who won’t stay fired

 

For years, through a variety of chiefs, Opa-locka has been trying to get rid of German Bosque. The firings never stick.

Twenty years of trouble: German Bosque’s record

1990

February 7: Two weeks short of graduating from the Miami-Dade police academy, Bosque is arrested for driving a stolen truck, possession of a firearm and impersonating a police officer. He was carrying a fake police badge, a semi-automatic weapon and wearing a black T-shirt with “POLICE” inscribed on the back. Though later acquitted, he was tossed out of the police academy. At the time, he vowed to try to re-enter the academy.

1992

June 10: Arrested in Jacksonville, jailed for two days and found guilty of driving with a suspended license.

Aug. 16: Hurricane Andrew strikes South Florida. Bosque is hired in Florida City, which is desperate for police in the wake of the storm.

1993

Asked to leave the Florida City after his supervisors discover his tainted record. He is hired as an Opa-locka officer

1994

Sept. 8: Four are killed in a chase involving a stolen car that sped through Opa-locka but crashed outside the city. Bosque had been following the car shortly before the crash. Questions were raised about whether he was pursuing the vehicle against department policy.

1998

March: Suspended five days for an unauthorized police pursuit outside the city.

May: Five-day suspension for another unauthorized police pursuit.

May 22: Bosque calls in sick, complaining of food poisoning, in order to vacation in Cancún.

1999

Feb. 1: Bosque attempts to stop a motorist driving with no headlights. The driver flees at high speed, and Bosque pursues the vehicle until it crashes into a tree. Bosque lies to his superiors, telling them he cut off the chase, then waits 15 minutes, calls in the crash on his personal cell phone as if he had arrived at the scene well after the accident. He is suspended for 20 days.

Sept. 5: Allegations of excessive force are filed by a man who claims that Bosque kicked and punched him repeatedly while he was handcuffed. Deadline to investigate complaint expires. No action taken.

2000

March 1: Bosque is terminated following a high-speed police pursuit that violated policies.

June 12: Bosque is rehired after the PBA successfully wins arbitration.

Aug. 28: Bosque punches a 14-year-old boy three times in the head, telling the youth: “I am the law, if I feel like it right now I can f--- you up and no one will say nothing to me.’’ The assault is witnessed by a fellow officer and Bosque admits striking the boy. The state attorney declines to prosecute.

August 31: Suspended one day for failing to cooperate with the city attorney and for skipping a meeting to go on a trip to Key West.

Dec. 8: Bosque is fired in connection with the incident involving the juvenile.

2001

February 26: Bosque is rehired.

May 8: Bosque’s girlfriend reports that Bosque slapped her in the face while they were sitting in his personal vehicle, then slapped his own face and called police, telling them that she had battered him. An investigation subsequently showed that Bosque’s facial injuries were self-inflicted. Investigators recommended he be terminated immediately. Charges of lying under oath and making a false police report are dropped because the department failed to initiate disciplinary action within 60 days.

July 30: Disciplined for making a false statement on a police report while under oath.

2003

Feb. 12: Man files a complaint alleging he was stopped by Bosque, who ordered him to place his hands on his patrol car. Bosque patted him down, removing $55 from his shirt pocket. Bosque returns all his property except the money. Complaint not sustained.

Sept. 16: Suspended for five days without pay for failing to turn in police reports, after being ordered to do so by a supervisor. .

2004

Jan. 19: Suspended for 45 days after he beat a handcuffed suspect bloody while the suspect was in custody. The victim was beaten until bloody and there was blood spilled all over the station house floor.

March 3: Suspended 15 days without pay for excessive force, spitting on a suspect and using racial epithets. State places his police certification on probation.

May 27: Suspended for one day after he refused a direct order to handle a call, telling his supervisor: “This is bull---.”

July 15: Suspended for three days without pay for beating a man in the sally port of the Miami-Dade County jail.

July 22: Accused of fondling a corrections officer inside his locked police car. He receives no discipline because investigators said the woman admitted she failed to say “no.”

Oct. 16: Charged with a misdemeanor after he packed an undeclared loaded handgun in the cargo luggage at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport. Case was later dropped after he told police his girlfriend had packed the bag.

2005

Jan. 27: Bosque is terminated after an internal affairs probe finds that while under suspension with pay Bosque was moonlighting during work hours as an ambulance driver.

Sept. 28: City settles with Bosque, allowing him to be reinstated in exchange for a three-month suspension without pay.

2008

Feb. 7: Narcotics evidence in two of Bosque’s cases is missing. A vehicle inspection of Bosque’s patrol car uncovers several crack pipes, Florida auto tags, several ID cards and an empty Smirnoff vodka bottle. Investigators said the properties should have been properly bagged, labeled and impounded. Subsequently, IA investigators find that a baggie of suspected cocaine he seized a month earlier also was not placed into evidence, and was also found in his car. The state attorney’s office declines to prosecute, saying that there was no corrupt intent.

Jun 12, Bosque is terminated by Opa-locka’s city manager, against the police chief’s wishes.

July 17, Bosque is reinstated with back pay after the FOP files a grievance.

August 15: Bosque is terminated by city manager again in connection with the Feb. 7 search of his police vehicle.

Nov. 2008: City settles with Bosque, returning him to the force.

2009

Feb. 7: Man says Bosque swept his legs out from under him, punched him in the stomach and cuffed him after he tried to come to the aid of his mother, who was being treated by paramedics. The complaint is unsustained.

2010

Feb. 19: A mechanic observes damage to the undercarriage of Bosque’s car. Police also find a number of Florida driver’s licenses and a counterfeit $20 bill.

March 15: An internal affairs investigation is launched into “suspicious behavior” by Bosque during the night hours. Bosque’s superiors suspect that Bosque had been stopping young women as they leave the Lexx Club, a local strip joint. They are not able to prove their suspicions.

July 12: A 16-year-old boy playing basketball alleges that Bosque slapped him twice in the head. The internal affairs case is dropped when investigators let the case expire.

2011

Jan. 24: Promoted to sergeant

2012

May: Bosque is suspended with pay after he allows a newspaper reporter to ride in his police vehicle without permission. During the unauthorized interview he gloats about how many times he has been arrested and suspended. “I’m an excellent police officer but I break the rules,’’ he says.


jbrown@MiamiHerald.com

ARABIAN NIGHTS, DANGEROUS STREETS

Opa-locka, one of the poorest and most scandal-plagued cities in South Florida, has a long history of influence-peddling and corruption, stretching back decades. City leaders have been accused of taking bribes, making illegal campaign contributions and covering up criminal wrongdoing. The police department has been the focus of multiple state and federal public corruption probes, as well as a barrage of civil lawsuits.

The city, for years, has faced one of the most staggering crime rates in the nation. Its police department, historically, has had inadequate equipment and officers are among the lowest paid in the region. Salaries have since climbed, with starting salary at $39,000 and an average salary about $45,000.

The city, designed with architecture straight out of an Arabian Nights fantasy, is also home to the “Triangle,” a blighted, nine-block open drug market that was blocked off with barricades, further entrenching gangs and crime. Police were accused of looking the other way as dealers plied their trade.

Though the city has started to clean up the Triangle, its police department’s reputation is still problematic. Its own internal affairs investigator, Michael Steel, has been relieved of duty pending an investigation into whether he lied about his own background and failed to do adequate background checks of other officers.

Last year, there were 41 police internal affairs investigations on a force of 68 officers.

Its current chief, Cason, has had her own troubles. In 1995, as an officer, she tested positive for cocaine and her police certification was placed on probation. Last year, as chief, she was suspended after she was accused of failing to tell the city that she had had a crash with her city-owned car.

Cason, who was promoted to chief in 2010, said she has never taken an illegal drug in her life. A subsequent, more detailed analysis of the sample came up clean.

Cason said she is working with FDLE and the FBI to fix the department, and she hired a well-regarded law enforcement professional and police instructor, Antonio Sanchez, as deputy. Sanchez is a former assistant chief in Biscayne Park and former Hialeah Gardens police captain. He teaches criminal justice at St. Thomas University and Miami Dade College.

“I inherited years and years of problems,” Cason said. “I knew that I needed someone with integrity, someone I could trust to improve our department’s reputation.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, which reviews police misconduct, has repeatedly declined to strip Bosque of his law enforcement certificate. The state’s police unions have successfully persuaded legislators to pass laws that protect officers and provide loopholes that allow cops like Bosque to keep their badges and their guns.

Miami-Dade County’s Police Benevolent Association, which has successfully fought Bosque’s dismissals, did not respond to requests, in email and by phone, for an interview for this story.

Amlong, Bosque’s personal attorney, said in his letter that Sanchez has it out for Bosque and other Opa-locka police officers who he said have been improperly “sidelined” from their jobs without due process. Sanchez has also brought in some of his “cronies” from Biscayne Park, adding to the instability of the department, Among said.

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