After seeing his personal chief of police refuse to salute the American flag in the course of the Pledge of Allegiance, an officer determined to take issues into his personal palms after accusing her of holding her faith above her official duties.
Whereas every officer within the room At Miami Police Faculty stood and saluted the flag, one among their very own leaders declined to take part. Assistant Chief of Police and 32-year-veteran officer Anita Najiy stood silently, refusing to recite the pledge and place her hand over her coronary heart in reverence of our nation’s image. Sadly for her, somebody took discover.
In terms of our women and men in blue, we hope that they really feel an inherent obligation to their nation above all others. In any case, it’s the residents of this nation who they’re sworn to guard and serve. As such, when Najiy was noticed disrespecting the American flag, one among her fellow officers refused to let it go.
After seeing his personal commander’s obvious contempt for America, Fraternal Order of Police president Javier Ortiz refused to let her actions go. In a letter to her superior, Ortiz questioned Najiy’s means to serve her nation if she gained’t even pledge her allegiance to it, in accordance with the Miami Herald.
“In the event you’re not pledging allegiance to the US, my query is what nation are you pledging allegiance to?” Ortiz says. “Anybody who isn’t offended by that isn’t American, as a result of whenever you turn into a U.S. citizen, you pledge allegiance to the US.”
Ortiz cited a piece of the police division’s code of conduct, which permits for disciplinary actions for officers who fail to present the flag the right respect throughout a ceremony. Ortiz in the end advised that Anita Najiy is faraway from her place as commander of the division’s Honor Guard.
Javier Ortiz wrote Chief Rodolfo Llanes, accusing Anita Najiy of holding her faith above her official duties. Since Najiy is a Muslim, Ortiz concluded that the incident was a transparent indicator that she is unable to place apart her spiritual conviction in an effort to carry out her job necessities.
“I had false hopes that the MPD [Miami Police Department] would tackle the difficulty at hand. Assistant Chief Najiy practices within the Muslim religion. The MPD apparently is afraid to deal with this,” Ortiz mentioned. “In the US, you will have the suitable to apply any faith and say no matter you need off-duty. Whenever you’re in your police uniform, you’re to be impartial.”
Miami Police Maj. Delrish Moss refuted Ortiz’s declare, stating that Najiy was following U.S. Army code, which supersedes the town’s Honor Guard code. Nevertheless, Ortiz dismissed this justification, arguing that the officers “aren’t within the navy” and that she ought to have displayed the right etiquette that “should be exercised when sporting a legislation enforcement uniform.”
“Spiritual and political opinions don’t have any enterprise being mirrored when sporting a police uniform,” Ortiz mentioned. “There are many law enforcement officials in our division that apply the Muslim religion and pledge allegiance to our nation and have an issue together with her defiance in direction of the US.”
Javier Ortiz has since been known as a racist and bigot for elevating his issues. He has additionally been underneath fireplace for using social media to rally backlash towards these with whom he disagrees.
“We’re appalled by the hateful feedback that we now have been compelled to witness over the previous a number of days,” Miami Neighborhood Police Benevolent Affiliation President Ella Moore wrote. “Manufacturing points to divide and name consideration away from his personal misdeeds appear to be a sample of this FOP president, who doesn’t look like as much as the duty of displaying the true management benefiting his present place.”
The ordeal has brought about heated debate over Anita Najiy’s actions. Whereas some agree that law enforcement officials ought to salute the flag, others insist that it ought to be an officer’s proper to refuse, no matter their motivation for doing so.
