MIAMI (WSVN) - Miami-Dade County commissioners are moving forward with an effort to bring back an independent review panel to oversee the Miami-Dade Police Department.
The multi-million dollar plan was discussed during a Zoom meeting on Tuesday morning following weeks of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The motion passed on its first reading in a 9-4 vote.
The MDPD is one of the largest police departments in South Florida. The review panel was originally created back in the 1980s but was defunded in 2008 due to the economic crisis.
The recommendation for the idea came from the Black Affairs Advisory Board, who met earlier in June. The panel was one of several suggestions following Floyd’s death and continued demonstrations across South Florida.
“Someone can take a look. Someone can raise an alarm if there’s an alarm,” board spokesperson Stephen Johnson said. “It’s the confidence from the community in our police departments that leads to a better working environment for our police officers and a better community for all of us.”
The decision to revive the panel, which will be made up of 13 community members, is being brought forward in an effort to provide an additional level of transparency over MDPD and to review complaints against officers within the department, including claims of the use of force.
Under the ordinance, the county would pull “no less than 1% of the Miami-Dade Police Department’s operating budget,” around $2 million, to fund the panel.
Some of the commissioners at Tuesday morning’s meeting did not agree with the funding source for the panel.
“They’re taking away $2 million-plus from the police department to fund this board,” said Miami-Dade District 12 Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz. “That was not stated in the original [proposal].”
“I understand that point of clarification, however, because it’s been put out there that this item is taking money from the police department, and it is not at all,” said Miami-Dade District 1 Commissioner Barbara Jordan. “I just wanted to clear that.”
The South Florida Police Benevolent Association’s leaders said the department is short on officers at its current funding level.
“It’s going to hurt us by doing this, and I don’t understand if the Miami-Dade Police Department has been doing a good job on this, why are we the targets of this now?” union spokesperson Steadman Stahl said. “Where is the money coming from?”
In addition to Diaz and Jordan, commissioners Esteban Bovo, Joe Martinez and Javier Soto were also in attendance for the panel’s meeting.
The ordinance will come back to the board for a second reading at the next commission meeting, when further discussions will be made on the matter.
It remains unclear where the $2 million in funding will come from. The ordinance’s language states that the mayor has the responsibility of finding a funding source.
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