Police union slams chief, from above

It could be the first time a police union took to the skies to slam their police chief but that’s what happened this past Sunday in the City of Hollywood, Florida. Visitors to Hollywood beach gazed up in amazement as a small yellow plane with a banner reading “City of Hollywood high crime area. Thanks Chief Fernandez!” flew up and down the coastline before swooping over to the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

City Commissioner Patty Asseff was dumbfounded to hear where the banner came from — the city’s own police union.

“I can’t believe it’s coming from our own department,” she said. “Are they saying their own officers are not doing a good job? This has to come to an end. I’d really like to hear from the chief as to what the heck is going on.”

Beth Maitlen, a real estate broker who lives in Hollywood, was also upset.

Hollywood, Florida Police Chief Frank Fernandez could not be reached for comment about the police union’s banner pulled by a small airplane.

“All I saw in that banner was someone bashing my city,” said Maitlen, who was worried clients might have seen it. “I don’t see the benefit in bashing the entire city with negative advertising. It’s astounding.”

But Jeff Marano, president of the Hollywood police association made no apologies for the attack on Chief Frank Fernandez.

“Hollywood needs to get rid of the chief,” Marano said. The union leader accused Fernandez, who’s been on the job since August, of trying to malign the agency with an outside audit.

The audit — which Marano calls a “fiction novel” written by a hired gun — has turned up problems with the department’s use-of-force policy, missing Internal Affairs files and forgotten rape kits.

City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, the only person who can fire the chief, said Fernandez has her full support and slammed the “high crime” banner as an attack by a lone disgruntled union leader.

“It’s not only untrue, but it’s unprofessional and an insult to all of the hard-working police officers who are committed to making Hollywood safer,” she said. “If you look at the crime stats, you will see they have gone down overall.”

Read the full report in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Check out the video of the plane with the controversial banner.