School district police chief reassigned

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Miami-Dade Schools has taken action against its police chief following several strong allegations.

According to school district officials, Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Charles Hurley has been temporarily reassigned to administrative duties at one of the district's regional offices, due to the ongoing investigation into allegations the chief currently faces.

The allegations against Hurley surfaced two weeks ago. 7News' own Rosh Lowe recently spoke with Joe Puleo of the Fraternal Order of Police, who said the chief faces two sexual harassment allegations, along with complaints he Baker Acted some students instead of arresting them, in order to affect the district's crime rate. Puleo said, "Instead of arresting juveniles, [Hurley] has been giving directions to Baker Act the children."

A Baker Act occurs when someone is deemed mentally unstable and taken to a facility against their will. According to Puleo, the complaints involved juveniles getting Baker Acted instead of arrested, even if the juveniles did not warrant the Baker Act.

Last Wednesday, Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho spoke about the allegations against the school district's top cop. "I personally take, and I think as a system, being the transparent system we are, we take all allegations very seriously, and we initiate a process, and then, at the conclusion of that process, we report back our findings, and we take the appropriate action, and that's exactly what we're doing," he said.

On Monday, school district spokesman John Schuster issued the following statement: "The school district takes all allegations very seriously. As a result, an investigation was immediately initiated when an allegation was made concerning Miami-Dade Schools Police. Chief Charles Hurley has been reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation."

Major Gerald Kitchell has been assigned acting police chief. Reportedly, Kitchell sat in the chief's spot during last week's school board meeting, because Hurley was attending a conference.

It is unknown how long the investigation will continue.

Hurley has yet to issue a comment regarding the allegations.

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