After nearly three decades with Miami Police, Freddie Cruz steps into a new assignment with his trademark energy, empathy — and a pocketful of jokes.
A year out of high school, Freddie Cruz joined the police force almost on a whim. His original job plans had unraveled, a friend encouraged him to apply, and the promise of structure and purpose pulled him in.
Since that day, Cruz, a Miami native, has spent 28 years with the City of Miami Police Department, filling several different positions – from the Public Information Office (PIO) that handles communications and media relations to his most recent posting, starting last month, as Coconut Grove’s top cop.
“It’s not just about putting people behind bars,” says Commander Cruz, who oversees the Grove’s policing district. “It’s actually helping people, when you can actually make a difference, when you actually have someone tell you, ‘thank you’.”
After rotating between the PIO office and several district commander positions in Edgewater, Wynwood and Little Havanna, Cruz was summoned by Chief of Police Manuel Morales to replace former Grove Commander Daniel Kerr, who stepped down in June after three years in the post.
“[Cruz] mirrors that community perfectly,” Morales tells the Spotlight. “Even though he’s not homegrown, he matches the vibe of the Grove. He knows what the Grove needs.”
This position may very well be his last with the police department.
Like many others, Cruz has signed up for the deferred retirement “DROP” program, meaning his last year with the department will be 2027, unless he extends his contract.
“I have an ending, an expiration day, like milk,” he says.
Asked what lies on the horizon, in retirement, Cruz answers in earnest: “I’m going to be with the circus. Yeah, as a clown,” he says, without missing a beat. “I’m a professional juggler.”
A moment of awkward silence, broken by a broad grin, leaves a reporter with a smidgen of mud on her face. She’d been had.
Such deadpan jokes are a Cruz hallmark, say his former PIO coworkers, Mike Vega and Kiara Delva.
“He just is a very personable person, and he knows how to make a serious situation very light hearted,” Delva says. “He’s just a great person with a great heart.”
His lineup of pranks included fake retirement announcements for Vega, and tapping his pen against people’s shoes, while they’re seated and in the middle of a conversation. Once, Cruz called radio personality Enrique Santos, a reserve police officer, to tell him his certification would expire unless he started a weeklong training the very next day.
“It makes our job a lot easier. It makes our job fun. It makes us look forward to coming to work each day, because you don’t know what Freddie’s coming up with next,” Vega says.
Vega’s friendship with Cruz is 35 years in the making, stretching back to when Cruz was just a teenager attending South Miami Senior High School.
Cruz grew up in Miami, living mostly with his mother, a registered nurse, who had immigrated from Cuba in the 1960s with his father, who worked in the radio industry.
At a young age Cruz started to develop the on-air personality that would later come to serve him well during his years at the department’s communications office.
At 14, Cruz booked a few acting gigs — including in a pizza commercial – using skills he picked up from taking acting classes at the Coconut Grove Playhouse.
“I had braces and I had to take a bite of pizza four or five times, and every time I took a bite it hurt,” he remembers. “But they paid (and) especially when you’re 15 or 16 years old, you know, 20 bucks is great.”
Before joining the police academy Cruz worked at three different radio stations.
But the policing world called out to him.
“I’ve always been dedicated. I’ve always been a good employee, and I stand by that,” Cruz says. “It’s representative of who I am.”
Cruz’s daily routine begins with self-care: working out, nearly every day; and finding the time for his favorite pastime — three-hour-long walks, which he occasionally takes through the Grove.
“I come to work happy every day, but I’ve created that atmosphere for myself,” he explains.
In the office, Cruz sees a big part of his job as helping others to get the most out of theirs. His favorite saying to his staff: If you drop the baton, pick it up and keep running.
“If we’re down about something… he always reinforces our great work,” Delva says.
Cruz is a father to two children – a 21-year-old daughter, Victoria, he calls his best friend and who lives with him, and a two-year-old that lives outside the country. They changed his life, and also the way he approaches his work. Now, any incident involving children takes on a new meaning.
On one challenging day while at the PIO office, Vega was in charge of informing the community about an autistic child who had gone missing. Cruz came in to assist on a day off, staying from 5 a.m. to midday when the child was found.
“He was dedicated to finding this child, thinking of his own child,” Vega recalls.
Cruz has thrown himself into his new Grove posting with gusto, handing out his contact information to just about anyone, hoping to carry on strong legacy of police leadership in Coconut Grove.
Crime in the Grove – and throughout most of Miami – has steadily declined in recent years.
After hours, Cruz says he is just a regular guy. While the role of commander demands a type of 24/7 availability, he spends most of his nights watching TV or hanging out with his daughter. On weekends he’s travelling to the Gulf Coast of Florida, typically spending his days on Marco Island beach.
“At the end of the day I’m a human being like everybody else,” Cruz says.
Commander Cruz is an amazing neighborhood officer! He & his team came to the rescue of new residents in Edgewater in 2018, in the early stages of a wayward’s neighborhood’s rebirth. Look forward to seeing Freddy soon in the Grove.