¿Ya pa’ que?
For the third time in two years, the Miami-Dade Commission voted on Monday to institute and fund an Independent Civilian Panel to review police abuse and complaints. But it’s a much watered-down version with no real teeth to investigate anything.
Too little and too late — because the panel becomes nothing more than an advisory board when Miami-Dade voters elect a county sheriff in 2024.
It’s more like window dressing than any attempt to seriously address police misconduct in the midst of the biggest demand for more oversight in our nation’s history. It’s not the kind of reform that is called for in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in Minnesota that sparked protests from coast to coast.
Mayor Carlos Gimenez has said he wouldn’t veto the legislation this time, because there was no subpoena power to force elected officials to testify. Florida law already bars the board from issuing subpoenas to police officers. So, basically, it’s a lot of vroom vroom about nada.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commission fails to put police review panel on November ballot
Don’t tell proponents that. Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava called it a “landmark decision” and thanked the mayor for his “public promise” to not issue a third veto. Like, yeah, thanks so much for respecting the board.
“The Panel is a critical first step to creating trust, oversight, and transparency between law enforcement and the community,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “I salute Commissioner Barbara Jordan who persisted through great opposition to make this a reality, and thank all our colleagues who voted yes to meet the moment now facing our country – when so many are demanding greater justice in policing.”
Ladra says Jordan caved. She really had no choice, though. She tried to get the panel, which was retired in 2009, restarted in 2018. Then again earlier this year in the wake of the Floyd murder at the hands of police. Both were vetoed. Jordan then tried to get her colleagues to support a ballot measure that would allow voters to make the call. They rejected that notion. Termed-out and done in November, this was maybe the only way to leave this as her legacy.
Oh well, advocates say, something is better than nothing. At least there’s a venue to present cases of police abuse or misconduct, a place to set the record, and another way to pressure the sleepy Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to wake up from its coma.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez likes to be above the law; vetoes civilian police review panel
“Can it be effective until 2024? Yes,” said Daniel Suarez, a police accountability advocate who served five years on the city of Miami’s Citizen Investigative Panel. “Just depends on how active the appointees are and how the charter is defined.”
For example, Suarez said, the police director must be directed to respond to reviews. “The ICP can only succeed if the charter allows the panel to challenge the director, thus mandating the director to respond with constructive responses,” he said.
But does it provide a real platform to pursue justice when the police force and the SAO fail to do so? Or does it just provide a false sense of security? And just why can’t our elected officials — who are no more than mere mortals entrusted by us with our quality of life — give the process more credibility by providing sworn testimony on issues of police accountability.
What is so scary about that? If an elected has nothing to hide, why would any subpoena anywhere to provide any sworn testimony be a problem?
“The ICP will make our county safer,” Levine Cava said, “both for the brave men and women of law enforcement and for the public, and ushers Miami-Dade policing into the 21st century,” Levine Cava said.
Did she say 21st century?
The ICP, as voted on Monday by our spineless commission, is little more than an empty political notch on a campaign belt. But maybe the new commission that gets sworn in after Nov. 3 can give it more teeth.
Miami-Dade approves a watered-down independent civilian panel for police added by Ladra on
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