THE BIRTH AND EVOLUTION OF THE HPOA
By Diego Mella and Raul J. Diaz

In 1958, Miami-Dade County adopted the Home Rule Charter consolidating the Sheriff s Department County Police Fire Corrections and Animal Control into the newly created Public Safety Department.

Very few Hispanics were found in the department at the time, some in supervisory positions. Sergeants Joe Fernandez AI Molina and AI Carballosa along with Nick Navarro (Former Broward County Sheriff) contributed to the development of the young department .

In the early to mid sixties as the Cuban exile community started to increase, so did the number of Hispanic officers in the department . These included Cesar Camacho Fermin Reyes Victor Vila Avelino Fernandez Manny Llera Vicente Oller Eddie Gonzalez (Former MDPD Deputy Director and former Director of the US Marshals Service ) and Carlos Stuteville. Their bilingual ability exposed them to a variety of assignments.

In 1964 Carlos StuteviIIe became the first Hispanic officer killed in the line of duty and the fourth in the history of the department up to that date.

From 1968 through 1976 the Hispanic population of he department continued to increase albeit slowly. That period saw Jesus Bencomo, Tony Prieto Robert ‘Bobby I Gonzalez Rene Bello Diego Mella Tony Socarras Bernardo Bastard, NeIson Oramas Juan I Pancho’ Fernandez SamueI Caballos Carlos Alvarez (Presently Miami-Dade County Mayor) and the first two Hispanic females June Hawkins and Grace 0’Donnell.

During this period of time, many of the Hispanic officers gathered as an informal group to discuss common problems and for social activities.

From these informal meetings grew the Hispanics Officers Association or HOA (Predecessor of the HPOA) which was founded in September 1974 at the Little Havana Activities Center on SW 8 Street and 12 Avenue. Formal meetings and elections were held, family picnics and dances were organized and community projects launched. Also intertwined in all of these functions were the recruitment and promotions of Hispanic officers.
In 1974 a Human Resources Office was created and Fermin Reyes was appointed Human Resources Coordinator to assist in the recruitment of Hispanic officers. At the time Hispanic officers represented 4% of the department’s manpower and less than .20% of the supervisory staff.

In 1979 he HOA was renamed and incorporated as the Hispanic Police Officers Association (HPOA). From that time to the present the HPOA has been actively involved in: the recruitment of Hispanics’ assisting new recruits and heir families’ providing career enhancement training to its members’ taking a leadership in the Hispanic communities’ establishing scholarships for students: and donating time and money to many charitable and community based organizations.