MIAMI – Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales testified on Tuesday in front of the city’s Civil Service Board at City Hall about allegations that he targeted department staff who reported internal affairs corruption and department racism.
Former Commander Brandon Lanier, a military veteran who served two tours in Iraq and has 21 years of experience in law enforcement, and Officer Wanda Jean Baptiste both claimed the department’s leadership didn’t allow them to do their work independently.
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The city’s Civil Service Board’s whistleblower hearings this month on behalf of Lanier and Jean Baptiste are a stop on the way to asking the court for legal whistleblower status. Lanier said he and Jean Baptist “blew the whistle” four times.
“Morales has used his position to open investigations to target employees and influence the outcome of investigations,” Lanier wrote in a letter last year to a long list of recipients that included Gov. Ron DeSantis and City Manager Art Noriega.
The members of the board — Troy Sutton, the chairperson; Rodrigo Jimenez, the chief examiner; and board members Rafael Cabrera, Ulysses Garcia, and Travis Lindsey — asked Morales, Lanier, and other witnesses questions.
“Do we have bad cops in the department? Absolutely, every department has them,” Morales told the board. “That’s why internal affairs is here. That’s why we sit down and we have a comprehensive...
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