Miami-Dade police unveil LGBTQ Pride-themed patrol vehicle

The Miami-Dade Police Department is honoring the LGBTQ community with a rainbow-themed patrol vehicle.

The vehicle — which is decorated with the colors of the Pride flag and the words “hope,” “love,” “equality,” “inclusion,” “kindness,” “peace,” and also the phrase “strength through unity” — will be used “to establish a more trusting relationship within our communities,” MDPD Sergeant Orlando Lopez said during the unveiling ceremony on Thursday in Doral.

“What better way to assist in educating the public about Pride and in promoting engagement between law enforcement and the community we serve?,” Lopez asked, when introducing the “MDPD Pride Vehicle.”

On the side of the vehicle, a police awareness ribbon represents members of the force who identify as LGBTQ and who “proudly serve all communities across the nation.”

An anti-hate symbol is displayed on the vehicle’s rear cargo window, while the back shows an American flag, as well as two stickers of rainbow-colored hands giving the peace sign.

“Today, now more than ever, trust and acceptance is the number one virtue of our community without a doubt,” said MDPD Director Alfredo Ramirez III. “We as law enforcement cannot do our job without that. That is the fuel that lifts us.”

The mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava, was also present at the unveiling ceremony.

“As we work together to better inform our community, we will all create a more empathetic, more caring, more unified community,” she said.

For decades, the relationship between law enforcement and the LGBTQ community has been contentious, controversial, and highly volatile.

Earlier this month, NYC Pride, the organizers of the city’s Pride celebrations announced that, “effective immediately, NYC Pride will ban corrections and law enforcement exhibitors at NYC Pride events until 2025.”

While the ban was welcoming news to many LGBTQ activists — who for long have highlighted the historic discrimination LGBTQ people have faced in the hands of law enforcement — it also prompted an angry response by the Gay Officers Action League, a group that represents officers from the NYPD and other law enforcement organizations.

John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for public information, said that decision was “hurtful and disappointing.”