Kudos and Thanks to Tamarac City Commissioner Mike Gelin ( also President of Gelin Benefits Group, LLC ) who spoke up as yet another rogue cop was being given an award for “Deputy of the Month”! Tamarac is about 14 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale.

Back in July 2015 the rogue cop had arrested Mike Gelin for allegedly resisting and obstructing without violence, when Mr. Gelin was recording police as they responded to a battery incident. Resisting and obstructing without violence is the “go-to contempt of cop charge in Florida, especially against citizens who record cops in public” ( noted by website newsmaven.io ).

At the Tamarac City Commission meeting after deputy Joshua Gallardo and others received their honors, Commissioner Mike Gelin took the microphone and called Gallardo back down to the floor. He then told the rogue cop “You’re a bad police officer and you don’t deserve to be here,” to which the cop responded with a thumbs-up gesture, further attesting to his inappropriate attitude for public service of any sort ( he must have meant it as a disguised gesture of a different finger, unless you believe he was actually saying “job well done for pointing out my being unfit to receive this award” ).

But wait it gets worse! Tamarac Mayor Michelle Gomez quickly tried to soft pedal Mike Gelin’s action with “Ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate as a whole, BSO and everything you do for us.” “Thank you for your service to our community, we appreciate you. Please take that away from here today. Thank you very much, be safe out there.”

Unbelievable! Even if the mayor felt the constituents she wanted to attract don’t suffer from improper law enforcement actions ( 🙄 ), as a mayor of a city with a Black American population of 29% she should have an idea by now that the systemic recurrence of police brutality against Black Americans throughout this country is a serious human rights issue. But instead she actually goes out of her way to downplay Mike Gelin’s valiant stand against this rogue cop. She has decided to become part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

Others who have decided to become “parts of the problem” include Jeff Bell, president of the Broward county sheriff’s union. Bell actually suggested the commissioner should punish Mike Gelin for expressing his opinion, OMG!

The Broward County Police Benevolent Association attacked Mike Gelin for confronting the rogue cop at Wednesday’s ceremony. The rogue cop organization said it would no longer endorse the commissioner. Rod Skirvin, president of the PBA said “As a public official, Commissioner Gelin’s behavior towards a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy is unacceptable.” Apparently the PBA isn’t overly concerned about our human rights either. That is, the problem isn’t just the malformed spirit of the rogue cops on the street. The problem is their management and the political system that supports them.

The solution as I see it is for each of us to speak up in support of those of us who act as Mike Gelin has done in holding people accountable during public events such as this. We need to make this something we speak to our friends and family about. We need our media to make this part of our focus as well. The greater the political position of the person speaking out, the more we need to be vocal in our support.

We need to be vocal in our support for these “conscious” political figures in our own towns all around the country, and also keep an eye trained on our communities in the Southeastern states, with their higher concentrations of Black American populations. We need to especially support our political figures and our businesses in those states ( especially our real estate agents 🙂 ). Mojakore is actively pursuing Black businesses in this region to join our online Marketplace, for example.

Kudos again, Tamarac City Commissioner Mike Gelin. Your actions are the kind of actions we see as being needed as we move forward from yesterday’s unacceptable policing environment and political environment, through today’s necessary activist environment, and toward tomorrow’s target, family-friendly, community-friendly, people-friendly environment.

References:

https://atlantablackstar.com/2019/10/01/a-florida-cop-was-blindsighted-when-a-florida-official-confronted-him-for-falsely-arresting-him-years-ago-youre-a-bad-police-officer/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-city-commissioner-confronts-deputy-awards-ceremony-over-arrest-n1059991

https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/eye-on-government/city-commissioner-calls-cop-rogue-as-he-receives-deputy-of-the-month-award-hyq-a3a5FESIbdhWC-XnCA/

http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/tamarac-fl-population/