A former Florida police captain with a long history of civilian complaints, including false arrests and harassment, has joined the state’s state guard under governor Ron DeSantis.
Javier Ortiz, 44, joined the Florida state guard in February, the Miami Herald first reported. Ortiz’s enrollment comes months after being reinstated by the Miami police department, after he was initially dismissed for slew of conduct complaints.
As a member of the Florida state guard, Ortiz could be sent to assist during natural disasters or with other statewide emergencies, the Herald reported.
A spokesperson for the Florida state guard could not be reached by the Guardian in time for publication.
Several people have questioned why Ortiz is allowed to join the Florida state guard given his past misconduct.
“I can’t wrap my mind around how concerning this is,” Rodney Jacobs, the director of Miami’s civilian police review panel, said to the Herald about Ortiz joining the state guard.
Jacobs added: “Are they being vetted?”
In 2022, Ortiz was fired by the Miami police department after an internal investigation found that the veteran police officer had been the subject of more than 70 complaints since being hired in 2004, NBC Miami reported.
Ortiz was the focus of a total of 52 citizen complaints, 20 excessive force complaints and two administrative complaints.
During a two-year inquiry into Ortiz’s conduct, witnesses alleged that Ortiz engaged in “pattern of abuse and bias against minorities, particularly African-Americans”, and previously cyber-stalked and doxxed people who complained against him or other officers, the Herald reported.
In one instance, Ortiz circulated the photo and contact information of a woman who posted video of a Miami-Dade police officer speeding in a suburban area.
The woman later received hundreds of threats. Ortiz was investigated for cyberbullying and other violations by the department due to that incident.
Ortiz has also been suspended from the police force multiple times before his dismissal last year.
At the time of Ortiz’s initial firing, Miami police chief Manny Morales said to NBC Miami that Ortiz was dismissed because of the amount of infractions on his record.
“He has, through his entire career, been able intimidate and manipulate the disciplinary process of the Miami police department to avoid any serious consequences for his actions,” said Morales.
But, despite the investigation, Ortiz was later rehired last May and allowed to keep his rank, NBC Miami reported.
Ortiz’s hiring raises additional concerns as the Florida state guard is reportedly being trained as an armed, combat-ready militia under DeSantis’s command versus a disaster relief agency, according to military veteran recruits who have quit the state guard training program.
Volunteers with the state guard are increasingly being trained for combat, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times, with some guard members experiencing “abuse” from training officers.
