HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal Powerpoint Presentation 01-11CIVILIAN INVESTIGATIVE PANEL
FTAA PRESENTATION TO
MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
JANUARY 11, 2007
SUBMITTED INTO THE
Larry R. Handfield PUBLIC RECORD FOR Janet R. McAliley
ITEM .6T, a ONJ 1,1
Shirley E. Richardson
Executive Director
Chairman
Vice -Chair
Charles C. Mays
Independent Counsel
Introduction of Panel
Members
LARRY R. HANDFIELD
CHAIRMAN
Founding partner of The Handfield Firm and a
member in good standing of The Florida Bar.
Chairman Handfield received a Bachelor's
Degree from Bethune-Cookman College, a ]uris
Doctorate from Howard University, and a
Doctorate Degree of Law from Bethune-
Cookman College.
JANET R. McALILEY
VICE CHAIR
Served sixteen years on the Miami Dade
County School Board. Also served as past
president of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy
Center Board of Directors. Ms. McAliley
received a Bachelor's Degree from the
University of Florida.
TANYA J. BRINKLEY
A prominent attorney practicing in
the community for many years.
Serves as a Civil Traffic Infraction
Hearing Officer for the llth
Judicial Circuit.
DANNY COUCH
A long time community
activist who has served on
various municipal, county,
and community non-profit
boards.
OTIS DAVIS
President of the City of Miami
Retired Police Officers Community
Benevolent Association, with a
long and distinguished career in
law enforcement.
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ANDREW FISHMAN
A distinguished attorney who served as an
internal consultant to Vice President Al Gore's
National Performance Review, and on the
Board of Directors for Greater Miami Legal
Services. The Founder and Chairperson of the
Black -Jewish alliance.
RUDY de la GUARDIA
TREASURER
An attorney who holds the rank of
Ambassador Extraordinaire and
Plenipotentiary on Special Mission and
Honorary Consul for the Republic of
Panama. Mr. de la Guardia is also
Chairperson of the CIP's Inter-Intra
Agency Communications Subcommittee.
BESS McELROY
A dedicated community activist who has
served on multiple community and
professional organizations in Miami -Dade
County, and was instrumental in the
establishment of the CIP. Ms. McElroy serves
as Chairperson of one of the two Complaints
Subcommittees.
TIMOTHY MOORS
The president of Moore Overseas, and a
former intelligence officer for the United
States Air Force. He also presided over an
advisory group to the National Police in
Colombia, responsible for evaluating the
disposition of expatriates arrested in
Colombia. Mr. Moore currently serves on
the Board of Directors for Grove Isle
Condominium.
THOMAS J. REBULL
SECRETARY
A distinguished attorney with Broad &
Cassel and actively involved in Florida
Bar activities where, among other
functions, he served on the Code and
Rules of Evidence Committee. Mr. Rebull
also serves as Chairperson of the
Complaints Subcommittee.
HECTOR SCHWERER
IMAGE
AVAILABLE
Currently serves as an Investigator for
the Public Defender's Office and served
as Criminal Investigator for U.S. Customs
and Investigator for the Florida
Department of Professional Regulation.
Mr. Schwerert received a Masters Degree
from the University of Miami.
BRENDA B. SHAPIRO
An eminently respected Family Law
practitioner who has chaired the City of
Miami Community Relations Board and
trained City of Miami Police cadets in
community relations. Ms. Shapiro is
Chairperson of the CIP's Policy &
Procedures Subcommittee.
FRED ST. AMAND
The Chief Executive Officer of Valparaiso
United Services, Inc., and Pax -Villa Funeral
Home. Mr. St. Amand is a well respected
leader in the Haitian -American community in
particular, and the community as a whole.
The CIP: Historical Context
November 2001 Referendum
2002 Nominating Committee impaneled to
accept and screen applicants to the CIP and
present recommendations to the City
Commission.
March 2003 CIP was impaneled with a small
transition staff of three.
September 2003 Executive Director hired.
• September 2004 recruitment and staffing of permanent
budgeted positions.
• January 2005 through April 2005 Hiring of Independent
Counsel, Chief Investigator and Independent Private
Investigators.
• April 2005 to December 2006, the CIP concluded
investigations on 590 cases arising from citizens' complaints.
Related recommendations and concerns/notifications were
submitted to the MPD.
Complaints Sub Committee: Tom Rebuli
Purpose: To review, submit findings and/or
recommendations on each FTAA complaint.
The FTAA Complaints Subcommittee:
Reviewed/investigated complaints; conducted public
hearings, received testimony from complainants and
witnesses; analyzed arrest reports; examined hundreds
of hours of video tapes and analyzed police after action
reports.
Among the conclusions and recommendations reached:
The MPD should provide more comprehensive training in the
protection of First and Fourth Amendment rights.
MPD and assisting agencies should distinguish between those
protesters engaging in acts of violence and those engaging in
peaceful civil protests. On occasion, there were instances of
indiscriminate use of force where less lethal weapons, such as
'bean bags,' were fired at retreating subjects or other persons
who did not necessarily pose an imminent threat of serious
physical injury or harm.
Officers should display identifying agency insignia and name
plates so as to be identifiable. To their credit, Miami police
officers wore uniforms that provided a means of identification.
Unfortunately, this was not the situation with other police
agencies.
There is a disturbing disconnect between the number of arrests
that were made and the paucity of criminal convictions. The
overwhelming majority of the arrests were dismissed by the State
Attorney's Office or the courts.
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Policies and Procedures
Subcommittee: Brenda Shapiro
Purpose: Created to assess policies governing police
conduct during the FTAA; training provided to law
enforcement participants with respect to the use of
force, crowd control techniques and the preservation
of First and Fourth Amendment rights.
Post FTAA:
(1) Review proposed revisions to MPD Policies.
(2) Follow through on policy concerns identified
by the Complaint Subcommittees.
(3) Make recommendations to the Chief of Police.
FTAA Findings & Recommendations:
Officer training curricula should include:
(1) The substance & application of First and Fourth
Amendment rights.
(2) Use of constitutional law professors to assist in
designing the curricula and a testing component.
Change SOP 25 Section 1-B, governing the use of less lethal
weapons to include constitutionally sufficient language to
ensure that use of less lethal weapons is permissible only when
the officer "reasonably believes" that imminent harm threatens
the officer or other persons.
Other recommendations unrelated to the FTAA:
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Clarification in Departmental Orders governing the discharge of
firearms. (Later revised by MPD.)
Reconsideration of the use of electronic control devices when
encountering only Passive Resistance. (Later revised by MPD.)
Reconsideration of a revision to the Strip Search and Body Cavity
Search policy that would have expanded the authority of officers
to conduct such searches.
Inter/Intra Agency Coordination
Subcommittee
Function: This Committee was created to assess the coordination
of operations between the participating law enforcement
partners. The Committee studied the after action reports,
analyzed the Mutual Aid Agreements, acquired formal training for
CIP members in the Incident Command System (ICS); and
communicated with law enforcement agencies to develop a
unified multi agency response policy.
Findings & Recommendations:
(1) Employment of a joint information system to
ensure delivery of a unified message relating to
operations and procedures.
(2) MPD as host agency should maintain the authority
to define procedures, standard or level of force and
weaponry to be used under given circumstances.
(3) Use of adequate high tech equipment to
communicate orders.
(4) Seeking participation of local legislators to
recommend an amendment to the Mutual Aid Act
so as to incorporate an Incident Command System.
Community Outreach:
Function: Development and maintenance of a
comprehensive community relations, public
information and marketing program to increase
public awareness of the CIP.
Significant Accomplishments:
Designed, created, published and distributed trilingual
brochures.
Complaint forms, and CIP brochures are available at all
NET Centers, the Miami Police stations, other City
facilities and on the CIP's website.
The CIP's website offers comprehensive information
about the Panel and is regularly updated.
CIP staff and Panel members, through a coordinated speakers'
bureau, attend regularly scheduled and special meetings
throughout the community to make presentations about the CIP.
The diversity of the Panel allows for communication in the three
languages commonly heard in Miami.
CIP members have appeared on TV and radio, and an increasing
number of articles have been written in the print media regarding
the CIP.
CIP Publications include:
FTAA Status (Interim) Report 2005
FTAA Final Report 2006
National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
Newsletter article
ACLU Newsletter article (Freedom Watch)
2005 CIP Annual Report
Contact Information
The CIP welcomes all inquiries and comments. Administrative
Staff of the CIP may be reached at 155 South Miami Avenue,
PH1-B, Miami, Florida 33130, telephone (305) 579-2444,
facsimile: (305) 579-2436. Email to the CIP may be directed
to srichardson@ miarnictov•C f L. Additional information
regarding the office is available on the CIP's website:
http://www. misranigov.com/Cip.
Shirley E. Richardson
Executive Director