Miami ends civilian police oversight, citing new state law

For more than 20 years, Miami Police have had an extra set of eyes – civilian eyes – watching over how it investigates officers accused of misconduct.

But soon that oversight will be no more.

Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel is being dissolved effective Sept. 30, after Gov. Ron DeSantis and the legislature imposed a statewide ban on citizen oversight of police misconduct.

Miami’s citizens voted overwhelmingly to create the CIP in 2001 after a series of controversial police shootings and criminal activity.

But those efforts were undone in April when DeSantis signed a bill banning “civilian oversight of law enforcement agencies’ investigations of complaints of misconduct by law enforcement.” As of July 1, those panels were effectively made illegal.

In signing the bill, DeSantis said the 21 or so panels then in existence “just start reviewing things and trying to put people under the gun, even if there's no basis to do that…We don't think that that will contribute to public safety at all. In fact, we think that that would hurt public safety, and so this bill really stops that from happening.

Not true, say those involved in Miami’s CIP.

“I think the culminating effect of the CIP, if you look back on the work that we did, it said that we gave the community a mouthpiece to be involved in a process that allowed them to trust the police department more than they did before,” said its executive director, Rodney Jacobs. 

“It's not us against them,” said Michelle Reboso, the CIP’s chair. Told the governor said the panels make police “miserable,” hurt public safety and create “false narratives,” Reboso said, “That's incorrect. And I think it's … almost ignorant to say because I think it's not properly researched.”

But yesterday city manager Art Noriega told the CIP its $1.3 million budget and seven employees will be eliminated at the end of next month, as mandated by the new law.

The City said the current chief will eventually appoint at least three civilians to review policies and procedures, as allowed by the law, but they cannot review misconduct allegations or discipline.

The CIP’s leaders point to several reforms it helped push to make police more accountable.

Their investigations pressured the city to keep better tabs on officers working off duty, some of whom were seen falling asleep on the job or being entertained by an exotic dancer working in the entertainment district where they were hired to patrol.

The CIP’s analysis of the use of body-worn cameras also showed how often officers failed to turn them on, or unmute their microphones, in violation of policy.

The resulting emphasis on proper use of the cameras has led to greater use, which in turn, the CIP says, allows investigators to exonerate officers much more often than sustain violations against them.

In total, Jacobs said of the CIP, “I think because of all of that, it has created a more resilient and sustainable city.”

Similar panels in Fort Lauderdale and North Miami are also gone. The Director of Miami-Dade County Independent Civilian Panel told NBC6 that because of the law, it will “no longer receive or process complaints of misconduct by law enforcement.”