|
As the Panel Turns
Lack of Respect From
Police Main Topic of Discussion
From Police Oversight Board
“It was police-involved shootings that led to the creation of
this panel.”
by
Ryan Brown
Last week, the
Civilian Investigative Panel, a board charged with overseeing the
Miami Police Department, discussed police-related shootings, its
report on police actions during the 2003 Free Trade Area of the
Americas summit, and a status report on cases the CIP is now
investigating.
On Sept. 27, panel
members received a letter from the Miami Police Department denying
their request to be notified within 24 hours of shootings that
involve city of Miami Police officers.
“It was
police-involved shootings that led to the creation of this panel,”
said Vice Chair Janet McAliley. “For us to not be notified is
incomprehensible to me.”
The panel
unanimously passed a resolution to take their request to the City
Commission on Nov. 9.
“A lot of people in
the community believe we operate like a grand jury, but we don’t,
and we don’t have authority over all the officers involved in the
FTAA [demonstrations],” said Larry Handfield, chairman of the panel.
Handfield was referring to the fact that many citizens who filed
complaints against the police for their actions against protestors
during the FTAA summit have still not seen redress or punitive
measures for alleged misconduct.
“Most of the people
who came to participate in the demonstrations were not criminals –
in fact their objections reflected a lot of the concerns of the
delegates themselves,” McAliley said.
According to panel
members, one of the reasons for the lack of disciplinary action
is the mutual aid agreements between Miami Police and
other agencies in the law enforcement coalition that provided
security for the trade conference. The city asked law enforcement
agencies who ordinarily have no jurisdiction inside city boundaries,
such as the Broward Sheriff’s Office, to help provide security
during the FTAA summit. This makes CIP oversight tricky because the
panel was created to monitor just the Miami Police Department.
Involving outside agencies created a gray area for the CIP, making
it difficult to hold certain law enforcement officials accountable
for possible misconduct.
In fact, panel
members said they had trouble even making contact with some of these
outside agencies. Panel members report that the Broward Sheriff’s
Office will not respond to CIP letters requesting a meeting, nor
will the Broward Commission. “It’s not right that the Broward County
Commission can just say ‘whatever’.… I think it’s disrespectful that
they won’t meet with us or listen to us,” said board member Rudy de
la Guardia. (The CIP report on the FTAA summit, released this past
July, can be found at its Web site: http://www.ci.miami.fl.us/cip/pages/.)
The panel spent
most of its time reviewing the 37 reports of citizen complaint
investigations. Most of these cases were closed, but one that
remains open sparked considerable discussion among panel members. On
Feb. 15, 2005, a complaint was filed with Internal Affairs accusing
Officer Henry Llorella of forging the complainant’s signature on a
stolen vehicle affidavit. No disciplinary actions have been
recorded. The panel decided to request a report on the status of
this case from Police Chief Timoney and to investigate the
additional 14 reprimands that have been issued to Officer Llorella.
Comments? E-mail
letters@miamisunpost.com.
|
