In a knock to accountability, civilian police oversight ends in Miami-Dade and Florida | Opinion

In a troubling turn of events, citizen panels assigned to review controversial police actions and inject the civilian perspective into local police departments are being disbanded across Florida.

A new state law set the stage for ending the state’s 21 panels. In essence, civilians in Florida will no longer be able to complain about alleged police brutality outside of the department’s internal affairs office. If a department rejects citizens’ complaints, there is no other recourse.

Two local panels, one covering Miami Police and another the Miami-Dade Police Department — designed to ward off the notion of the “fox guarding the hen house”— have been dismantled. It’s a blow to citizens’ rights to police transparency and accountability and closes a line of communication between the public and police departments.

It’s only the latest attack by the Florida legislature on citizens’ participation in their governance.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass gleefully announced the end of civilian oversight at the signing of the new law, which took effect July 1 after the passage of House Bill 601.

DeSantis characterized these panels as “political” and “stacked with activists.” Glass was even more dismissive: “These men and women in law enforcement do not need to be scrutinized again and again by committees that have no idea what they are talking about,” Glass said.

So much for community buy-in.

This rhetoric implies that the voices of those who advocate for police accountability are inherently biased. In reality, these civilian panels, if run effectively, are crucial, not only for seeking punishment for officers but for fostering community trust in law enforcement.

In Miami-Dade, the two-year-old Independent Civilian Panel, revived after the 2020 murder by Minneapolis police of George Floyd, is officially dead, Executive Director Ursula Price told the Herald Editorial Board. The 13-member board barely got off the ground before becoming the victim of the new law. A new county sheriff elected in November has the discretion to keep it.

And in Miami, the city commission has voted to stop funding its 23-year-old Civilian Investigative Panel, a decision Executive Director Rodney Jacobs is fighting in court, saying the commission is misreading the new law. In an opinion article for the Miami Herald, Jacobs wrote that in “a city like Miami, where the scars of police misconduct run deep, this is not just a betrayal of our laws; it is a betrayal of our humanity.” A powerful accusation.

Police departments traditionally dislike civilian scrutiny of their actions, siding with Glass that citizens don’t know what it’s like to be law enforcement officers.

It’s a bit of an imperious view. However, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales has indicated his department may create a community advisory panel.

Miami and Miami-Dade have had scandals involving mistreatment of citizens. In fact, the latest incident between Miami Dolphins’ star player Tyreek Hill and four Miami-Dade motorcycle officers could have ended in front of the Miami-Dade civilian panel, if Hill felt the department did not act on his complaint of police misconduct and failed to reprimand the officers.

Of course, Hill is famous and has an expensive attorney. But an “average Joe” with the same complaint would have to resort to such a civilian oversight. Now, there is no recourse.

It is true that civilian panels have not always been effective. Without subpoena power, their bite is usually limited. Miami-Dade’s ICP took over a year to start hearing cases. And those bodies are also expensive to fund.

However, disbanding these boards signals a regression in the progress made since the Black Lives Matter racial justice protests four years ago.

Now, as these boards are dismantled, the message is clear: citizens are no longer welcome in conversations about police conduct. Only law enforcement can recommend reprimand for officers.

This is a profound setback for justice and accountability in Florida.

Click here to send the letter.