‘Change needs to come’: Report details low morale, internal woes of Opa-locka police
Little to no training for officers. Outdated and “legally questionable” standard operating procedures. Evidence stored in a room with no cameras in a building in disrepair. Dismally low morale.
Such is the state of the Opa-locka Police Department, according to an assessment conducted by Miami-Dade police that was completed last week.
City Manager John Pate, who was hired in October, said he asked the county police for the review as one of his first orders of business, seeking an “unbiased report on how to move the city forward.” The county conducted its assessment between late January and late March, interviewing employees and reviewing documents.
The result was a scathing 36-page report concluding that, although the department is “meeting its obligation to its citizens by providing timely and responsive services in a professional manner,” it is plagued by a lack of resources, structure and accountability.
In a survey of 27 employees, the average rating of department morale was one out of five — with one representing “terrible” and five representing “outstanding.”
“Change needs to come to the Opa-locka Police Department,” says the report, which was prepared by George Perera, a captain in the Miami-Dade Police Department’s departmental services division. “Significant changes are needed in practically all aspects of the department’s administrative and operational functions.”
The city’s police department consists of 41 sworn staff members and 18 civilians.
The report, Perera writes, “may seem to point to a police organization that is beyond repair.” But there’s hope for a brighter future, he says, because the department “is staffed by a group of men and women who, for the most part, recognize that change is needed and who have expressed an interest in seeing the Opa-locka Police Department once again become a productive and effective public safety service provider.”
Opa-locka Police Chief James Dobson held a command staff meeting Wednesday to discuss the findings, Pate told city commissioners at a virtual meeting later that day. The department has struggled with high turnover and some of the lowest pay rates in Florida, Pate said.
On Friday, Dobson sent Pate an action plan, saying he agreed with the assessment and was recommending a series of changes in the department’s patrol division. They include holding weekly meetings for supervisors, drafting annual goals, and developing a training program.
In some cases, Dobson suggested the county’s recommendations were already in place, like a monthly performance evaluation system.
Opa-locka, a city of about four square miles and 16,000 residents, is under a state of financial emergency that was declared by then-Governor Rick Scott in 2016, and its spending continues to be monitored by an oversight board.
Last year, some state lawmakers pushed unsuccessfully to force residents to vote on whether to dissolve the 94-year-old, majority African-American city. A new crop of city leaders elected and appointed since 2018 continues to submit overdue audits and work with the county to address infrastructure and billing problems in its water and sewer systems, hoping to ultimately emerge from the state of emergency.
The findings
Among the report’s key findings were:
▪ Poor communication. There are no regularly scheduled meetings for command staff, the report says, and “communications between staff are often delivered by email despite the fact that offices are less than 20 feet apart.”
“The ineffective communications processes that permeate the department form the basis for significant deficiencies addressed in the report,” Perera writes.
He continues: “When an agency’s command staff rarely get together for formal meetings, when emails are the preferred delivery method between people who work less than 20 feet apart, when responses to inquiries from employees often go unanswered or, at the very least, are answered days or weeks after submission, there should be little surprise that the department is in need of more effective communications.”
▪ Lack of accountability. “Uncertainty and a lack of clarity reign supreme with regard to accountability in the Opa-locka Police Department,” the report says.
Policy violations haven’t resulted in the appropriate discipline, Perera writes. In interviews and surveys, officers said a lack of policies and procedures, plus a command structure with a high ratio of supervisors to subordinates, may contribute to those issues.
The department also doesn’t conduct employee evaluations or set department-wide goals and objectives, according to the report.
“No matter the underlying reasons, it is clear that the performance and behaviors of all employees of the department are not adequately monitored, and those who are underperforming or in violation of procedures and policies are not consistently held accountable,” the report says.
Oversight is “even more confusing” for 911 dispatchers, Perera writes, because their unit doesn’t have a supervisor.
“When sworn personnel were asked during their interview as to who supervises the dispatchers, many replied ‘don’t know,’ ” the report says. “Some guessed the lieutenant, while others guessed the on-duty sergeant. All but one dispatcher replied ‘no one.’ ”
▪ Potential abuse of sick leave. More than half of the employees surveyed “indicated that excessive sick leave use by some employees is having a negative impact on morale.”
▪ Inefficient spending. The report suggests that, although lack of funding is a concern for the department, it may be able to better allocate its resources. Florida City in South Dade, which has similar budgetary constraints, “does not have the issues with vehicles and equipment that Opa-locka Police Department does,” according to the report.
During a site visit, Miami-Dade police found that the department was introducing new technology, including fingerprint identification, body cameras and license plate readers.
While those tools are useful, the report says, “purchasing this type of equipment perhaps would be best delayed until other items such as uniforms and vehicles are satisfied.” In some cases, officers have purchased their own replacement uniforms and equipment.
In addition, all of the department’s marked police cars are “hand-me-downs” from other agencies, most from 2008. Only two have less than 50,000 miles on the odometer, and the cars lack standard police equipment like crime scene tape and first aid kits, the report says.
Ten new cars have been allotted in the city’s budget and ten more will be requested each year for the next five years, according to Dobson, the city’s police chief.
▪ Inadequate policies. The department’s policies haven’t been updated since 2014, the report says, and about 60% of its standard operating procedures don’t meet minimum standards set by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation.
There is no social media policy, for example, and no policy for car chases.
Dobson said the department recently formed a committee to ensure that its policies meet the necessary standards.
▪ Lackluster evidence storage. Officers store evidence in individual lockers, rather than a centralized location. Those lockers are in a room with no camera, and there is no regular auditing to match physical evidence with department records, the report says.
Evidence, including narcotics, along with the majority of the department’s property, is stored at an old police building where the roof is leaking and there is “minimal security,” according to the report.
“The policy and practices pertaining to evidence must be changed without delay,” Perera wrote.
Dobson said much of the evidence and equipment at the old police station is scheduled to be destroyed. He added that the door to the evidence room has an alarm and a locked steel door.
▪ Limited training. Most employees said they had received “little or no training.”
The department’s training budget is $11,000, or about $270 per officer.
“The department is committed to training though no formal training protocol exists,” the report says.
