Miami city leadership has tapped the police chief of Doral to lead the Miami Police Department (MPD) after a secretive search process that did not involve publicly available interviews or a list of candidates.
Edwin Lopez, a 28-year police veteran with experience at the Miami-Dade Schools police department and Doral, will replace outgoing Chief Manny Morales when the latter retires in the fall. He will spend the intervening months in a transition period with onboarding from Morales.
"Chief Edwin Lopez brings an exceptional record of leadership, a deep commitment to transparency, and a proven approach to community policing that has earned the trust of the communities where he has served,” said City Manager James Reyes in a written statement. “We are confident that he is the right leader to carry forward the Miami Police Department's proud legacy while addressing the evolving needs of our growing and diverse city.”
Lopez leaves a police department of about 200 personnel to an agency boasting more than 1,100 sworn officers, and will be in charge of security for a city nearly six times the population of Doral.
Notably, Lopez's appointment comes as a surprise to those not keyed into the rumor mill of local politics. No public national search was conducted for the new MPD Chief.
READ MORE: Outgoing Miami Police Chief Manny Morales could be replaced as early as July
Reyes said at a February commission meeting that the administration was already looking for a replacement for Morales, who will retire in October, and said person would be installed by July. However, no list of candidates was presented, no selection committee convened and no interviews were made available to the public.
In an interview with WLRN, City Commissioner Rolando Escalona said he would have liked to have seen a public search committee for the new chief, but it was at the manager's discretion how to hire Morales' replacement.
"To my knowledge there were a number of candidates that they talked to, and Chief Edwin was the most qualified," Escalona said.
Escalona said he expects a difficult adjustment period for the new chief as he gets used to a much larger department, but after meeting him believes he has what it takes.
"I would have liked for somebody already in the department to be given the opportunity, but I think the administration wanted to see new faces," he said.
The City of Miami did not respond to a question from WLRN regarding the lack of transparency of the process, except to share the section of the city charter that empowers the manager to select a police chief.
There is a precedent of announcing candidates and making interviews public in Miami, though the results have not always been transparent.
In 2021, after the retirement of former MPD Chief Jorge Colina, the city conducted public interviews after receiving more than 30 applications from candidates nationwide. Interviews were recorded and then shared with the public. At the time, then-City Manager Art Noriega selected Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo to lead the department. Acevedo was notably not one of the applicants publicly announced or interviewed, garnering some pushback from commissioners and the community.
Outgoing chief
Outgoing Chief Morales has been the subject of some recent controversy. Florida Politics reported on an letter allegedly sent to city leaders claiming ethics violations by Morales related to the Miami Police Foundation. According to the report, the letter alleged that he created the nonprofit with his wife and used the MPD headquarters for the mailing address.
Speaking to WLRN, Morales said the report was "politically motivated" and the purpose of the foundation was to support officers with things they needed that the department's budget could not pay for.
Morales has also felt pressure from the dais. City Commissioner Ralph Rosado called for Morales' immediate removal in February, claiming Morales was campaigning for Rosado's commission seat while on the clock as police chief — a violation of local ethics rules. Morales denied the allegation, but has not squashed the possibility of his political ambition.
