Official numbers say crime is down in Coral Gables. But people are questioning that after a spate of robberies and burglaries in the City Beautiful that 
hit the news this week.
And at Thursday’s commission meeting, Gables Police Chief Dennis Weiner could become the second top administrator in the city fired for fudging the numbers.
“It’s something I think needs to be discussed,” said Commissioner Frank Quesada, who put the crime item on the agenda and may call for the chief’s ouster.
“I’m concerned I’m not getting the full picture,” Quesada told Ladra. “Everywhere I go, whether its Publix or the park, everyone I run into has a story about their house being robbed or their neighbor’s or the house across the street.
“It doesn’t match up to what I’m getting from the chief.”
Commissioner Vince Lago is also practically convinced the chief has been manipulating the numbers and, according to sources, there are the three votes needed Thursday to throw the chief out. Maybe even four.
Thing is: The chief knows this, too, and may resign before that happens. Maybe his meeting with the acting city manager Wednesday is more about his exit strategy than patrol strategy.
Acting City Manager Carmen Olazabal told Ladra she was meeting with the chief Wednesday to discuss how to move forward. She already called the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to request an independent audit of the city’s crime statistics. Hope she asks them to go back a few years.
Read related story: Gables mayoral election has few pops, mostly misfires
But, um, helloooo? Didn’t the FDLE do an audit a couple of years ago that didn’t quite match up with the city statistics? Hasn’t the city’s top cop been muddying the math for over a year?
Former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera said repeatedly during his 2013 campaign for mayor that Mayor Jim Cason was covering up an uptick in 
burglaries and robberies to get re-elected. He had the numbers from the FDLE to prove it. Police union leaders and some of the top brass echoed those sentiments and told Ladra themselves that the chief is “playing fast and loose” with the numbers, having some crimes miscategorized to keep incident levels artificially low.
But Ladra guesses it takes the burglary of someone like former Mayor Don Slesnick‘s mom or insider lobbyist Freddy Balsera for the problem to be taken seriously.
“It has been proven the police chief manipulated the numbers,” Balsera, whose burglar took $60,000 worth of goods, told Channel 10. He is pointing to a memo that indicates the number of burglaries to be under 300 and a memo from the chief in which he says it is 324.
Balsera wrote an email Sept. 6 to his neighbors, urging them to stand up together against crime and go to the meeting Thursday.
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