Miami-Dade was promised a police oversight board. After two long years, it’s getting off the ground | Editorial
Remember how outrage over the police murder of George Floyd in 2020 spurred former Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan to call for revitalizing a citizens panel to review complaints against abusive police officers?
No? We can’t blame you.
Unfortunately, two years after the new Independent Civilian Panel (ICP) was revived, it is still sputtering to life.
The panel has yet to hold its first public community meeting, hire an executive director, move into new offices or hear a single case of alleged police abuse.
Not all of the panel members are fully trained in ethics and sexual harassment yet, and at least two panel members have already resigned.
We understand there have been delays beyond the panel’s control — and its very existence has been threatened by the expected election in 2024 of a Miami-Dade sheriff, who could disband the panel.
Still, at their monthly meeting last week, it was clear that members are finally poised to get started in earnest.
”We’re hoping to hear our first case before the end of the year,” announced ICP chairman Loreal Arscott at the meeting. We hope the panel can beat that deadline. It has important work to do.
The panel doesn’t lack for resources. It has a $1 million budget for next year, up from $750,000 last year. That’s a lot of taxpayer dollars being used just to get up to speed.
“We must build this panel on a strong foundation, “ Arscott said, a process that takes time. We agree, but it’s time to put the pedal to the metal, and we hope a recent burst of energy is a sign of great things to come:
▪ The panel has hired an interim executive director. Cristina Beamud, who just retired as head of the city of Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel, has agreed to head the administrative part of the ICP until a new director comes on board. And that director may be coming soon.
▪ At last week’s meeting, the head of the search committee announced that they have offered the job to Ursula Price, Executive Director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) and an accomplished criminal justice reform champion.
Thursday, Miami-Dade County commissioners will be asked to approve Price’s hiring so the panel can begin negotiating her salary.
▪ In hopes of reminding the public that it exists, the new ICP will hold its first public meeting at the Circle of Brotherhood office in Liberty City on Sept. 27. The organization invited the panel to come to their headquarters, and the ICP wisely accepted.
“We want the public to come out and meet us and know that we’re here,” said panel Vice Chair Pam Perry. Good move, which says the ICP is on the job.
Certainly, there are still hurdles ahead. With several new county commissioners elected, the panel must now wait for each of them to appoint their representative to the panel. That will likely further slow down the process as new members must undergo training to listen to citizens’ complaints. But new commissioners should act with deliberate speed here, and the the ICP’s forward movement should not grind to a halt.
After all, the panel seems to be on the move, at long last.
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This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 9:13 AM.