The discovery of a hidden camera in the Miami Beach Police Department's internal affairs interview room has the police officers union crying foul and demanding an outside investigation.

Police Chief Carlos Noriega ordered the camera be removed after it was discovered by the Fraternal Order of Police earlier this month. It was installed in 2004 under previous Police Chief Donald DeLucca.

``It is worth noting that although such devices are not uncommon in interview rooms, Chief Noriega's position was that a covert camera did not belong in internal affairs and should be removed,'' Miami Beach police spokesman Detective Juan Sanchez wrote in an e-mail.

The camera, which had audio and video, was not attached to a recording device, according to a memo internal affairs Capt. James Hyde wrote to the chief. The one monitor to watch the interviews was in Hyde's office, the memo said.

It was not used to watch meetings between officers and their attorneys, the memo said.

CONCERNS

FOP president Alex Bello is skeptical, saying the discovery raises serious concerns about whether there were violations of attorney-client privilege and the rights guaranteed to officers.

``It compromises their integrity,'' he said. ``They say [the meetings] weren't monitored, but obviously I have doubts.''

Sanchez, the police department spokesman, said the camera was used to ``randomly'' monitor interviews for a number of reasons, including the safety of officers, training and to make sure questions for officers complied with the Officers Bill of Rights.

Also to ``ensure the investigator's questions were appropriate as it related to civilians and witness officers,'' Sanchez wrote.

The union says that the camera should never have been there and that it is still a violation even if it was only used to monitor witnesses and not private attorney-client meetings.

``If they can observe it, then we should also be able to observe it,'' said Gene Gibbons, the FOP attorney. ``They should be preserving and recording, and they weren't.''

The department says there was no violation of the police officer's Bill of Rights.

Bello sent an e-mail to his members last week, alerting them to the discovery of the camera. He met with the Miami-Dade state attorney's office and plans to speak with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The matter is currently under review, said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle.

Earlier this month, Gibbons was meeting with an officer when he spotted the camera hidden in the room.

``It's illegal,'' he said. ``It's completely unprofessional. It's unethical.''

The room is used for interviews with people filing internal affairs complaints and to interview witnesses. It is also where officers sit with their attorney to review evidence against them in an investigation.

Hyde's Oct. 22 memo to the chief said: ``The cameras have only been used to monitor interviews and for officer safety. There's only one monitor, which is rarely utilized.''

He said the ``monitoring practice'' is used by other departments' Internal Affairs investigators.

``I have not violated, nor have I allowed anyone under my command to monitor an attorney/client meeting, violating the attorney/client privilege,'' Hyde wrote.

The camera was requested in August 2004, according to a 2004 memo.

JUSTIFICATION

In the justification section, the memo says: ``Necessary to conduct and monitor internal affairs interviews and investigations.''

Said Bello: ``When you hide it in an interview room, that shows malicious intent, versus hey, letting everyone know we're being monitored.''

He sent an e-mail to his members last week, alerting them to the discovery of the camera.

``This action has seriously compromised the impartiality and integrity of the Internal Affairs Unit, as well as the investigations of many of our members during the time frame when this camera was operational,'' he wrote. ``It is clear that this initiative was meant to circumvent our basic rights guaranteed as law enforcement officers under the Officers Bill of Rights.''

Gibbons also wrote a letter to Noriega, asking for an immediate investigation.