Police oversight panels run by citizens, like the one pictured here in Miami-Dade County, will lose all investigative power July 1.
On the same day that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that would prohibit civilian oversight boards from investigating police misconduct (HB 601), the city of North Miami became the first to announce that it will disband its Citizens Investigative Board as of July 1.
With the stroke of a pen last Friday, the governor not only eliminated a layer of police oversight designed to root out officer misconduct and make law enforcement more accountable to the public, but he also signed a second bill (SB 184) to keep people from having eyes on police – literally.
The new law prohibits people from getting within 25 feet of a first responder “engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty” if the first responder has warned the person to stay away. The infraction would be a misdemeanor. The legislation garnered backlash from groups such as the First Amendment Foundation, which called the bill blatantly unconstitutional.
Video of Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes until he died was captured by an ordinary citizen with her cell phone camera from just a short distance away. A new law in Florida prohibits people from getting within 25 feet of a first responder.
(Darnella Frazer)
“We appreciate the importance of protecting first responders but are concerned that the bill prevents citizens from going near or filming first responders within 25 feet if told not to approach,” the organization wrote in a statement. “This bill would undermine citizen journalists and could allow for undocumented police misconduct.”
One of the reasons why the national outcry of George Floyd’s death in 2020 was so swift is because a witness captured video of former police officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, until Floyd died.
Such compelling video may not have been possible had legislation like what’s just been turned into law in Florida been in place in Minnesota at the time of Floyd’s killing, but DeSantis portrayed both bills, signed by him on Friday in St. Augustine, as efforts to protect law enforcement officers from people who seek to publicly abuse them.
“They’re not free to use law enforcement as political piñatas,” DeSantis said, referring to civilian police oversight boards. “They’re not free to create false narratives. They’re not free to try to make it miserable to live or to work in uniform, and these things are highly political.”
In Florida, there are 21 such boards – half of them formed since Floyd’s death, according to a 2022 report. They exist in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Tallahassee, Orlando, Tampa, and other cities and counties.
As of July 1, the boards won’t be able to investigate complaints against law enforcement officers or correctional officers, nor will they be able to subpoena witnesses and documents. None will have any disciplinary power. Instead, sheriffs or chiefs of police will have the power to appoint internal oversight boards composed of three to seven members with limited authority. Miami-Dade County will elect a sheriff for the first time since the 1960s in November.
Equal Ground, a social justice organization aimed at protecting the rights of Black Floridians, bashed DeSantis’ approval of the bill.
Genesis Robinson, Equal Ground
(Equal Ground)
“By banning independent citizen review boards, Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators in Tallahassee are once again taking away the freedom of countless Floridians, whose voices are being silenced and whose safety is now at risk,” wrote Genesis Robinson, interim executive director of the group, in a statement.
He continued: “We know that civilian review boards are often the last line of defense for Black people to hold rogue law enforcement officials accountable for misconduct. Disbanding police review boards contradicts the ongoing efforts to reform policing practices and address systemic issues within law enforcement.”
Though the bill bans external investigations of misconduct, Miami-Dade Independent Civilian Panel (ICP) executive director Ursula Price has told The Miami Times that there are still ways for independent bodies to play a role in transforming how a police department functions more generally. That could include reporting to a local legislative body with recommendations, negotiating with law enforcement executives directly or merely publishing findings for the public to act upon on its own accord.
“It’s a question of what this local jurisdiction builds the political will to pass,” Price told us in March. “But there are a number of different ways that you can still have civilian engagement and police accountability without violating the law.”
The county’s ICP just recently started reviewing cases after being established in 2020 following a series of delays. The city of Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel was formed in 2002
