Miami PD Chief Jorge R. Colina's Message of Unity.

I was honored to attend the swearing in of the City of Miami’s new police chief, Chief Jorge Colina. I congratulate Chief Colina, thank him for his service, and wish him only the best with his new endeavor.  His message of unity especially resonated with me.  To quote Chief Colina,

We have wonderfully diverse, active, engaged residents who are constantly redefining themselves and pressing this city forward . . . .No one should be forced to live in fear because of their income level, their age, their race, their ethnicity or their sexual orientation.  Whether you live in a Brickell high rise, or the heart of Liberty Square, you should be able to walk outside your home and enjoy the same beautiful sunset, with the same expectation that you won’t be victimized.  Everyone deserves to be safe.

The same spirit of unity drives me to seek to serve our community through our judiciary.  Although our individual circumstances are singular, the benefits of a fair, attentive, impartial, and intellectually honest judiciary strengthen us all.   I am committed to helping to preserve this sacred institution and pledge to all who may appear before me in the future – whether you are law enforcement or an accused, whether you are among our community’s most powerful or most powerless, whether you support my campaign or actively and loudly oppose it – I will always be fair to you. 

To those who doubt whether a fair and impartial judiciary is an essential pillar of our Republic, I quote James Madison:

The benefits of the integrity and moderation of the judiciary have already been felt in more States than one; and though they may have displeased those whose sinister expectations they may have disappointed, they must have commanded the esteem and applause of all the virtuous and disinterested. Considerate men, of every description, ought to prize whatever will tend to beget or fortify that temper in the courts: as no man can be sure that he may not be tomorrow the victim of a spirit of injustice, by which he may be a gainer today.

We're in this together.

Joe Perkins