Home »
News &
Events » News Archive » 2002 Press Releases
COMMUNITY COALITION URGES CHANGES IN CIVILIAN INVESTIGATIVE PANEL
(CIP)
Final Vote Scheduled for Tomorrow
February 13, 2002
MIAMI ? The broadly-based coalition of Miami community organizations that have been advocating for the creation of a strong, effective and independent Civilian Investigative Panel today urged the Miami City Commission to address a series of concerns in the latest draft of the proposed ordinance to create the CIP.
The CIP Ordinance is scheduled for Second Reading and Final Passage at the Commission's meeting tomorrow.
The community coalition includes: People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality (PULSE), Brothers of the Same Mind, Vecinos en Accion, Haitian American Grass Roots Coalition, Colombian American Service Association, Inc. (CASA), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, South Florida Chapter (NAACP), and the American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Miami Chapter (ACLU).
The Coalition's communication to the City Commission follows:
The coalition of community groups that has been advocating for the creation of a strong, effective and independent Civilian Investigative Panel, has reviewed the latest draft of the proposed ordinance for the creation of such panel. The coalition has the following comments:
1. The Civilian Investigative Panel should be charged with overseeing the City of Miami Police Department and not other departments of the City of Miami. The voters of the City of Miami overwhelmingly approved of a civilian panel to oversee allegations of police misconduct.
2. The ordinance must ensure that the Civilian Investigative Panel will have input into development and review of policies and procedures of the City of Miami Police Department at the time of the creation of those policies and procedures and before any such new policies and procedures are implemented. That is what the voters overwhelmingly approved.
3. The Civilian Investigative Panel should be made up of no more than nine (9)members. Anything more than nine(9) would make the panel unmanageable, inefficient and ineffective.
4. Every candidate for service on the panel should be evaluated on his or her own merits. Persons who are otherwise qualified to serve as members of the Civilian Investigative Panel should not be automatically barred from service due to a prior felony conviction.
5. The Civilian Investigative Panel must be able to investigate citizen complaints of police misconduct, which are filed anonymously -- Just as police are able to proceed with an investigation based upon anonymous information.
6. The Civilian Investigative Panel must be directly responsible and accountable for the determination that its investigation will not interfere with a pending felony investigation. Such an important decision cannot be left in the hands of any single individual.
7. The Civilian Investigative Panel must have the authority to hire its executive director and its independent counsel. The executive director, in turn, must be accountable for hiring staff to accomplish the mission of the Civilian Investigative Panel. This will ensure that the Civilian Investigative Panel is above politics.
8. The name of the Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP) should remain unchanged. The voters of the City of Miami overwhelmingly voted for a body to be known as the Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP).
For more on the ACLU and police practices, click here.
