West Miami honors officers at second annual police banquet; detective and officer cited for life‑saving and interagency arrests

Eric Alvarez, executive officer for the chief of police, opened the second annual West Miami Police Department awards banquet and invited Chaplain Emilio Viches to deliver an invocation and Major Pedro Arcia to lead the pledge of allegiance.

The evening featured remarks from Mayor Eric Diaz Padron, sponsor acknowledgements, a slate of personnel awards and a raffle. “To me, every department ... is exceptionally important, but there's no doubt, in my mind that the number 1 most important department to any city is its police department,” Mayor Diaz Padron said, praising the department’s recruiting and retention.

The ceremony recognized quarterly officers and employees before presenting the department’s top honors. Michael Gonzalez was named officer of the first quarter (Alvarez read annual activity totals). Misael Galvani was named officer of the year; the presenter recounted that on Aug. 10, 2025, about 9:00 p.m., Galvani arrived at a three‑vehicle crash with multiple injuries, used an automatic external defibrillator and chest compressions and restored a victim’s pulse before Miami Fire Rescue arrived. The presenter credited Galvani’s actions with saving the victim’s life.

Detective Jimenez received the detective of the year citation for leading a multi‑jurisdiction investigation into robberies at a Dollar Tree on July 25, 2025, in which the cashier was robbed of $494. The presenter described coordination with Miami‑Dade and Broward agencies, enhanced surveillance work, and an arrest in North Miami on Aug. 11, 2025; the presenter said the FBI filed a federal criminal complaint related to the case. Detective Jimenez accepted the honor and thanked his colleagues: “Everybody that I work with and everybody that's here knows I can't do this alone,” he said.

Other awards included sergeant of the year for Hadrian Rodriguez; detective and traffic enforcement recognitions (motor officer Anthony Suarez was credited with 1,422 citations for the year); and an Administrative Excellence award for Ernesto Hernandez, who the presenter said manages the department’s red light camera program and records custody.

The department also publicly thanked platinum sponsors — including Red Speed LLC, Motorola Solutions, AMI Engineering (represented by Planning & Zoning Director Mercy Soler), Sun State Bank and USA Software — and held a multi‑prize raffle for attendees; the presenter invited winners to remain for music after the program. (The transcript lists a sponsor representative as “Christine Stampley,” and elsewhere the name appears as “Stanfly”; the discrepancy is noted in proper_names.)

The banquet concluded with a final thank‑you to sponsors and city leadership and a closing invitation to stay for music; the presenter adjourned the event with “Good night.”

What this means: The awards highlight both routine enforcement and two items of operational note: an on‑scene life‑saving action by Officer Galvani on Aug. 10, 2025, and a multi‑agency robbery investigation led by Detective Jimenez that resulted in an arrest and a federal criminal complaint. No formal policy votes or new departmental directives were recorded at the banquet.