'Only chaos': Deputy sheriffs' union urges Mamdani not to reappoint Sheriff Miranda

President of the Deputy Sheriffs Benevolent Association Ingrid Simonovic is urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to retain Sheriff Anthony Miranda, calling his leadership “incompetent” and damaging to the agency.

“I would hate to see [Mayor] Mamdani reappoint Sheriff Miranda,” Simonovic said in an interview on Tuesday. “He has brought nothing good to this agency, only chaos.”

Simonovic’s warning comes as Mamdani weighs whether to keep Miranda in the post, following a years-long and increasingly acrimonious conflict between the sheriff and the union representing deputy sheriffs.

Since Miranda’s appointment by former Mayor Eric Adams in 2022, the DSBA has filed 16 formal complaints against him and his leadership with agencies including the Office of Collective Bargaining, the Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau, the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity office, the state EEOC, and the Office of Labor Relations. In the four years prior to Miranda’s appointment, the union filed just one complaint.

Neither City Hall nor the Sheriff’s Office responded to requests for comment.

Simonovic said she initially made repeated efforts to establish a cooperative working relationship with Miranda, meeting with him several times a week early in his tenure. She recalled an incident in which an associate of the sheriff approached her about hosting a meeting limited to only Hispanic employees.

After she declined and continued pressing for broader meetings, the associate told her, she said, “Don’t forget who’s in power now.”

Ingrid Siminovic, president of the Deputy Sheriffs Benevolent Association.

Courtesey Deputy Sheriffs Benevolent Association.

Weed raids at issue

Miranda rose to prominence under Adams by leading the city’s aggressive crackdown on unlicensed cannabis shops, which included high-profile raids, padlock closures, and frequent press appearances. Miranda and Adams are both ex-cops who organized for racial justice, with Miranda founding the National Latino Officers Association.

A source within the DSBA, who requested anonymity because of ongoing litigation, said deputies were ordered during the raids to seize cannabis, cash, licenses and financial documents. When deputies raised concerns about due process, evidentiary standards and civil rights, the source said, those objections were dismissed and some deputies were later suspended or transferred out of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations unit.

Simonovic alleged that after those seizures began, an official in the Adams administration approached her asking to serve as a paid consultant to Miranda for $2,000 a month. When she refused, she said, the official warned that Miranda would “come down hard on the union.”

Two weeks later, Miranda suspended 13 deputy sheriffs who had questioned the legality of the cannabis raids, alleging alcohol theft during unrelated enforcement actions. None were criminally charged, two were later cleared in administrative trials and nine resigned.

“He was just throwing things at the wall, trying to get something to stick,” Simonovic said. “He wanted control of the union, and because we didn’t give it to him, it was all downhill after that.”

The union has also said Miranda also implemented unilateral policy changes, elevating favored individuals into leadership positions despite limited supervisory experience, including at least one person who was on probation.

Simonovic, the first woman and first Hispanic president of the union, said she believes city officials have failed to take her union’s concerns seriously. Smaller unions, she said, often struggle to gain traction at City Hall despite overseeing essential public functions. In addition to charges brought to both city and state EEOCs, Simonovic has a pending lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office one of several alleging discrimination or retaliation.

Union officials and deputies also allege the city failed to protect employees who filed complaints. One deputy filed an EEO grievance against Miranda and was transferred to another jurisdiction weeks later, according to the union source. EEO complaints are supposed to remain confidential. In other cases, deputies whose names were mentioned during court proceedings were later notified they would be transferred, the union said.

Working on expired contract

The DSBA represents more than 200 members responsible for a wide range of essential but largely unseen services. These include enforcing orders of protection and handling child support cases, totaling more than 20,000 annually, according to the union.

The union has also been without a contract for more than three years. Simonovic said the hostile work environment under Miranda has compounded the difficulty in gaining traction in negotiations.

She said Miranda’s direct involvement in negotiations has further stalled progress. Two major disputes are holding up talks: proposed changes to deputies’ work schedules and meal policies.

Deputies have long worked four 10-hour days, a schedule the union says reflects the extensive travel required between field assignments and office work, including completing case documentation. Miranda has pushed for an eight-hour workday and mandatory meal breaks without compensation, changes the union argues would effectively lengthen the workweek without pay, and are subject to collective bargaining.

These disputes are also subject to ongoing litigation, and according to the union source, both the union and the city would be content to defer to the result of the litigation in court.

However, Miranda, according to the union source, imposed these changes unilaterally. “He doesn’t understand the contract," the source said.

When asked what she wants from the incoming mayoral administration, Simonovic struck a conciliatory note.

“We’re ready and willing to work with anyone appointed to lead the agency,” she said, “as long as that person is open-minded and shares the same goal: doing the best job possible without violating anyone’s rights, and carrying out the work according to the law.”