Miami Beach Police are rolling out their body cameras this week. But what for?
They have already proven that they are going to act with impunity — whether or not the camera is rolling.
An officer who was caught on video clocking and kicking a drunk model in handcuffs was, indeed, found to have used excessive force on his bound prisoner. But the punishment for that is a month’s suspension without pay? And he can even pick the dates throughout the next few months that he gets to take the days off, eight hours at a time.
Maybe this is not the police story getting the national headlines, but there is something wrong with the system when a video-tape attack on an inebriated woman in custody is met with such delicate mediation.
What good are the 30 cameras that the Beach hopes to have on traffic cops by the end of the month? Miami Beach Police have already shown that they will ignore video evidence if it goes against them.
Look, Ladra knows she has a lot of police readers and I am usually on their side. People close to the county mayor have accused me of being paid by the PBA, even though I am not (and I should be).
Read related story: Politicos want to shield police body cam footage from us
But this seems too obviously a case where some stronger discipline should be meted out. Archer even took a selfie with his prisoner.
The Internal Affairs report states that Archer’s “experience, knowledge of rules, policies and proper practice dictates that you knew you should have reported and documented the events at the police station, you knew that taking a photo with a prisoner was inappropriate, you knew you should have properly secured the prisoners, and you knew you used excessive force.”
After all, it’s not like he’s a rookie. “Your lack of judgment and your poor decisions defy your tenure as a Miami Beach Police Officer of 19 years,” the report states.
“You met this slight woman’s meager schoolyard kick with excessive, unnecessary, and unwarranted use of force.”
I’m not saying that Officer Philippe Archer should be fired. Although you could make the argument that his actions rise to a criminal violation. This woman weighs 90 pounds wet, and was stinking drunk. He knew this because this was at the end of their encounter. He had been hearing and watching her aggressive, inebriated behavior for about an hour. Sure, she was making racial slurs. But she’s a stupid model who is drunk off her ass. Who cares? The police officer has to be sort of immune to that.
But instead of telling the other four officers there to take her away, he unleashes a whooping? So bad that two other officers have to intervene?
On second thought, Archer should be criminally charged and it’s another example of how sad our State Attorney’s Office is.
But at the very least, he should be suspended for longer than a month. And certainly he should be made to serve that time consecutively, like any sentence would be. I am sure that any detainee in jail would love to be able to serve his or her 30 days sporadically, a day or two at a time.
And then put Archer on probation. And make him go to some kind of remedial sensitivity classes. Anger management for sure. Then put him on desk duty anyway. This guy is not someone you want interacting with the public, drunk or not. Doesn’t he already have a judgement against him in another excessive force case?
Just ask Andrew Mossberg. The 50-year-old was walking by when he saw Archer rummaging through the model’s purse for her ID and thought she was being robbed. He called 911 and, like a good Samaritan, decided to intervene before the cops arrived. He got kicked and punched in the face by Archer, who according to another witness who called 911 from a nearby balcony, did not identify himself as a police officer.
After all this, all Archer gets is a 30 day suspension he 
can serve over the course of the next few months, at his leisure. Really? Really?
The Beach Police union says that Archer was defending himself from the feeble drunken kick of a skinny, slight model.
Police Chief Dan Oates says that he wants to put this behind him and move forward.
Move on to testing police cameras? If all that they are going to do is provide us with proof that cops don’t take their own transgressions seriously? These cameras could catch cops like Archer punching a prisoner or slamming someone in handcuffs into the side of their car.
What good does that do if the standard answers are going to be that he was defending himself and that we need to move on?
Absolutely none.
Miami Beach Police already ignore video, so why body cams? added by Ladra on
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by the way. what is the status of the herisse case?
did Kathy bury it completely? what about cmb payouts to the innocent bystanders who were shot?
3 years ago? been so long, I forgot. just as they planned.
She needs to sue so they won’t try to easily sweep this under the rug.
You may not say Archer needs to be fired, Ladra, but I will. This maniac is a SERIAL aggressor. He’s on record as having beaten up at least TWO people, possibly others who have gotten in the way of his fists. A month’s suspension ain’t gonna cut it.
And if Chief Oates wants to sweep this under the rug in order to “move forward,” then he needs to go, too. In the less than a year since his appointment by Mayor Levine, he has proven to be a woeful disappointment. Even his rank-and-file think so. (see leoaffairs.com)
When PBA attorneys can get any bad cop off the hook, and when any bad cop’s punishment can be reversed and bad cops are practically un-fireable, that’s TERRIBLE for society. That has to be fixed.
And what of the civilian superiors to the police? Mayor Levine? City manager Morales? The various commissioners? Why the deafening silence from these officials? We see it time and again when abuses occur by the MBPD.
City Hall clams up.
The official line is that it is under department investigation within IA or by the SAO, so nobody is free to comment.
But when police abuses occur, it is WE the TAXPAYERS that must foot the bill when victims sue the city for relief, often to the tune of hundreds of thousands if not millions of $.
Civilians at City Hall, as well as the police brass at MBPD HQ, must be held to account when abuses occur. Citizens must hold both parties — city officials and cops — accountable. And both parties should be held accountable for ensuring that the police department reforms itself and weeds out its trash. Cops cannot and must not be solely relied upon to police their own.
The camera footage will only be of assistance to those who can afford high powered attorneys and sue. Bad government decisions result in big settlements for a few of the ones who prove damage.
cameras are a good idea. since the police created the need for them, I’m sure they won’t mind paying for them out of their six figure salaries.