Stiffen your backbones, Miami-Dade commissioners. Give civilian police oversight the OK | Editorial
We have agreed to give a select cadre of qualified men and women a badge to wear, a pair of handcuffs and a gun. What these police officers owe all of us in return is accountability. Why is brutality ever allowed to be meted out in our name?
When Miami-Dade County commissioners meet Wednesday, they should put aside the rhetoric of a “few bad apples,” the misbegotten notion that Black Lives Matter doesn’t care about “all” lives and approve the re-creation of a community police review panel.
It’s not a new argument. It’s one that the Editorial Board has made for years.
Death in Minneapolis
What’s new, however, is the urgency: The barrage of in-your-face, videotaped examples of some — and we stress “some” — officers’ use of excessive force, against African Americans in particular. It’s George Floyd and, equally disturbing, comparable police actions that are not caught on videotape. It’s the realization that even so-called “good” officers too often fail to intervene. After all, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, but the three other officers who did not are in big trouble, too, and rightfully so. Independent review protects those officers who are committed to doing their jobs the right way.
County commissioners need to step up and vote in favor of imposing the same measure of accountability on Miami-Dade police officers that they would on any other public servant in the county’s employ. There are two crucial agenda items that they should not hesitate to approve.
The first establishes an Independent Review Panel, IRP, “empowered to hold public hearings, prepare reports and propose recommendations regarding serious complaints or grievances made against employees, agencies or instrumentalities of Miami-Dade County and to provide such services to municipalities throughout the county.”
In fact, it restores civilian oversight over police misconduct. A previous panel lost its funding in 2009. Internal Affairs alone now reviews complaints — a shortcoming that has damaged the community’s trust.
Toothless panel
The old panel’s lack of independence undermined its effectiveness. Reviving a more muscular version has been a contentious slog. But the benefits are clear: A newly configured IRP would bolster Internal Affairs’ reviews of officers who have drawn complaints; provide more transparency over the process; include the views of police; and amplify the voices of aggrieved community members.
The ideal panel will have an independent staff shielded from political influence; a diverse set of members from throughout the county; and stable funding, which the second agenda item could help secure.
That’s why commissioners should adopt a resolution to put a charter amendment on the ballot, so that the voters can have a direct say on whether civilian oversight of police should be made a permanent part of Miami-Dade County government — just as the voters of the city of Miami have done.
Police unions don’t like the idea of independent civilian oversight. And any panel would have to have the mechanisms to ensure that officers facing complaints are treated fairly.
But, given the egregious police misconduct that unions have defended time and again, their real concern should be accountability to the public.
Commissioners should step forward and create the independent review panel, assuring police that officers who are doing their dangerous jobs with integrity have nothing to worry about.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 6:00 AM.