In spite of the publicity the Civilian Investigative Panel received during the 2003 free trade summit, few know they exist.

The city of Miami forced the board of citizens charged with investigating Miami Police Department misconduct to slash its proposed budget for the third time in months — and the panel appointees aren’t happy about it.

Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel expressed frustration that the city ordered it to eliminate another $52,000 from its current $1.2 million budget after it had already trimmed $100,000. The latest cutback will leave the board with a little more than $1 million for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

But instead of trimming the six-figure salaries of its administrators, the panel eliminated its community relations liaison — the person responsible for telling the public how to report police abuses and for interacting with the media, among other duties. The position currently is vacant.

“We were asked to cut $85,000,” Chairperson Brenda Shapiro said. “We only cut $10,000, so [the budget] was given back to us and we came up with $100,000. We had done that. Then we were told in no uncertain terms to cut another $50,000.

“I will tell them that this is not a budget that meets our needs,” she said.

The cut is not one the board members wanted to make, and they are frustrated that they are increasingly asked to do more with less.

Probing the police

Voters ratified the creation of the Civilian Investigative Panel in 2001 after Miami Police officers were convicted of planting handguns on suspects, mostly African-American, whom they had shot and killed, and after Cuban-American protesters claimed the city’s cops mistreated them amid the unrest that followed the Elian Gonzalez raid.

Unlike the Miami-Dade County Independent Review Panel, which investigates allegations involving county officers and employees, the Miami board has the authority to subpoena witnesses, records and other documents.

The civilian committee was thrust into the spotlight in November 2003 when the city appointed it to investigate clashes between police officers from more than 30 law enforcement agencies and protesters during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in downtown Miami. The courts dismissed virtually all of the 277 arrests made during that period. Yet, despite the board’s subpoena power, the city of Miami and the Miami Police Department refused to turn over their “operational plans” during the investigation.

The board’s new probe is a bit different. Now it’s the police themselves, or at least the police union, who called for the investigation of the department’s top brass.

Civilian panelist Janet McAliley instructed staff during a Sept. 18 meeting to provide the board with information about city regulations that deal with police officers accepting gifts and to request city crime statistics since 2005. The request follows recently launched investigations into Miami Police Chief John Timoney, who was accused of driving a free Lexus SUV from Lexus of Kendall for more than a year without reporting it.

Armando Aguilar, president of the Miami Police Department’s chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, already submitted complaints to the panel.

“Two written complaints have been filed,” said Charles Mays, the panel’s independent counsel and a former assistant city attorney. “One is pertaining to crime statistics,” the other is related to the department’s policy regarding “gifts to police officers.”

The panel plans to review the requested information at its October meeting.

“There have been published reports that crime is down in the city,” said McAliley, who was appointed by Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. “But Commissioner Sarnoff has told me that crime is up in the city.”

The panel also recently investigated other police complaints, including allegations that one Miami police officer intimidated and illegally tape-recorded his mortgage broker, that another conducted a warrantless search of a citizen’s home and another used excessive force to knock a man unconscious.   

Fringe benefits 

Ultimately, board members approved a financial incision that they believe undercuts the very nature of their function: to let people know someone is policing the police.

“How is the public going to know what we do?” panelist Rudy de la Guardia said. “The [city] commission doesn’t even know what we do.” His comment referred to a budget discussion a week earlier in which commissioners, a few begrudgingly, told the panel again to slash its bottom line.

Executive Director Shirley Richardson informed the panel that she had previously requested proposals from public relations firms for a community liaison, but received no response.

Board members questioned several budget line items, notably a $13,200 annual car allowance to cover the cost of the cars provided to the executive director and the assistant director. However, Shapiro fought that cut, adding that there was no time to change it.

The board also vetoed salary cuts, even though the new budget raised salaries by $78,377 — from $545,058 to $623,435 — including $100,000 for two investigators added this year and a $14,000 raise for Executive Director Richardson, bringing her salary to $155,643 per year.

Those salaries, particularly Mays’, were criticized by some members of the Miami City Commission during a Sept. 11 meeting. Mays, who currently earns $235,950 annually, will earn only $214,500 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. That amount is still too high for Commission Chair Angel Gonzalez. “This is outrageous,” he said at the commission meeting.

City Attorney Jorge Fernandez said Mays’ salary is comparable to that of an attorney with his level of expertise.

“I know you can find an attorney between $75,000 and $125,000 and I know you can find one very easy,” Sarnoff told him.

Although panel Vice Chair Rudy de la Guardia voted against the new slimmed-down budget, McAliley said the board should decide where cuts are made and “submit this under protest.”

The Miami City Commission is scheduled to ratify the reduced Civilian Investigative Panel budget at 5 p.m. today.

Shapiro said she plans to make a final plea to the commission to restore some of the funding.

“With now having [to have panel members] go out into the community to do outreach, this situation is grave,” she said.