Miami Police Chief Colina plans to retire in January after three years in charge
Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina is planning to step down at the end of January after leading the department for almost three years.
Colina took over the department and guided it through federal oversight after a series of police-involved shootings, and during social upheaval and a pandemic even while dealing with allegations that he made racist statements earlier in his career.
On Wednesday, a Miami commissioner and several sources with intimate knowledge of the discussions confirmed the change with the Miami Herald. Colina could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Colina released a video statement on social media where he said his last day will be Jan. 31, 2021.
“I wanted to give the manager and the mayor enough time to be able to find my replacement without being chaotic,” Colina said. “That’s why I thought it was important to make this announcement now.”
Colina, a 30-year veteran in Miami policing, could make an announcement in the next few days. Sources with knowledge of the ongoing search for a new chief said at least one outside candidate and several top staffers in the chief’s office have either been interviewed or are expected to be interviewed in the coming days. Miami City Manager Art Noriega has the authority to name the next police chief.
Commissioner Ken Russell, who spoke to Noriega and Mayor Francis Suarez about the chief’s plans on Wednesday, commended Colina and wished him well in his future endeavors.
“I’ve loved working with Colina,” Russell said. “I think he’s shown the perfect balance we need for policing in a major American city.”
Colina, 53, was named chief in January 2018 after serving for several years at the side of his predecessor, Rodolfo “Rudy” Llanes. When Colina took charge of the department he said plans included forging better partnerships with federal agencies and curtailing gun violence. Both of those objectives were met. Miami’s murder rate reached historic lows the past few years.
“I feel a great sense of satisfaction that we’ve been able to achieve the goals we’ve set,” Colina said in his video.
Colina’s ascension came after decades of filling several important posts, from overseeing Internal Affairs to field operations and administration of the department’s four divisions. He worked in narcotics and anti-corruption and was promoted under Chief Miguel Exposito to commander of the city’s south district in Coconut Grove.
Married for 25 years with two children and a pair of grandchildren, Colina was the city’s fifth chief in the past nine years, an unusual amount of turnover for a major police department. At the time of Colina’s hiring, Suarez said he had no intention of hiring another police chief during his potential eight years in office.
Colina’s term as the city’s top police officer has been anything but smooth sailing — especially lately. After celebrating the city’s plunging homicide rate — it hit a 50-year low in 2018 — Miami, like all major cities across the country, has been hit by racial strife, a searing pandemic and a faltering economy.
Back in April, the chief was one of the first people working in the city to announce he had tested positive for COVID-19. Then in June, after recovering, the chief admitted to a reprimand he received more than two decades ago for using “offensive” language. The issue came to light weeks after the death of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis. Members of Miami’s Black police union said Colina had been insensitive to their claims of discrimination.
Colina, who posted a video in response to the claims, denied referring to Overtown as N-----town, as the union claimed. But he admitted using offensive language while teaching a class of officers about street narcotics operations. He managed to hang onto his job.
Even before a national racial reckoning, the Black police union said Colina had long ignored complaints of racial discrimination and inequality in his force, including Black officers being ignored or demoted after complaining about unfair treatment. Colina defended his record, pointing to the promotion of several Black women during his administration as part of a deliberate effort to diversify the highest ranks of the police department.
Then in early July during a heated press conference outside of Miami Police headquarters, the chief got into a back-and-forth with protesters after he claimed that the demonstrations were responsible for the quick rise in the number of police officers who had contracted the coronavirus. Protesters pushed back on the assertion, which the chief made at a time when no public health data indicated that an uptick in COVID-19 infections could be tied to protests.
In March 2019, the chief made headlines for taking a stance against a controversial state law that requires state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. He denounced the proposal, which Tallahassee lawmakers were weighing at the time. Gov. Ron DeSantis later signed the “sanctuary cities” bill into law.
On local Spanish-language radio station Actualidad Radio 1040 AM, Colina told interviewers he would rather be thrown out of the police department than be forced to comply with the law, adding that he didn’t think he could sleep at night if he had to spend time addressing a victim’s immigration status.
“I don’t care if you have papers or don’t have papers, where you came from, or who your parents are,” Colina said at the time. “That’s not my job. My job is to make sure everyone in this city is safe.”
During his tenure, Colina oversaw the creation of a pre-arrest diversion program that allows people found with small amounts of opioids to enter a one-year outpatient treatment program. Upon his hire, the chief had said he wanted to address addiction as a priority, and he said he did not believe the city could arrest its way out of the problem.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 8:47 PM.
