MIAMI – A veteran City of Miami Police Sergeant retired on Thursday, and she may have burned a few bridges on her way out.
It is routine for an officer, when they retire, to announce it over the radio.
But for 33-year veteran Sgt. Madelin Garcia, goodbye was anything but routine.
“This place was an amazing department to work for until the back stabbing and personal attacks started from my immediate supervisors and the First,” Garcia said over the police radio. “And if you don’t know who the First is, the First of nothing. To the chief and the First of nothing, you guys are in denial. You think you’re doing an amazing job, but in reality, you have destroyed this police department and the morale, except for your circle, which is definitely took care of.”
Garcia then refers to the prior police chief, Art Acevedo.
“I thought that Acevedo was bad, but at least one things for sure, I knew where he was coming from. To the First, you have a nasty attitude. So do yourself a favor and take some interpersonal skill classes so you know how to treat people right. And finally, to my immediate supervisor, Maj. Garrido. You are a liar, a snake in the grass, a cancer to this department. The hardest thing of being a female in this department was being surrounded by many males knowing that I was more of a man than you.”
She concluded with this message for her now-former fellow officers.
“Please take care of yourself. Back each other up because they don’t care about you, your family,” Garcia said.
City of Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes said Thursday evening that an investigation into problems alleged by Garcia would involve internal affairs, although he takes issue with how those grievances were voiced so publicly.
“It is an internal problem that has to be solved,” Reyes said. “It is unfortunate that it happened that way, but there is nothing we can do about it. It happened.”
Local 10 News reached out to Miami PD, and the department responded with the following statement:
“The Miami Police Department is aware of a radio transmission involving a police Sergeant. We are currently reviewing the incident, therefore no further comment will be made at this time.”
Editors note: This story was updated to change the first name of the sergeant to Madelin.