Police brutality? “This is not who we are,” says Miami Beach police chief. Is he right? | Opinion
We all bore witness to the horrific video that showed five Miami Beach police officers brutalizing two unarmed people of color. The officers were charged with a misdemeanor battery and suspended pending the outcome of the internal investigation and the criminal case.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and Police Chief Richard Clements have stated “this is not who we are.” But at some point, we have to address the elephant in the room.
These incidents keep happening over and over again, to the point that the statement rings hollow. As a Miami Beach resident of close to 25 years, I have watched and witnessed the demonization of tourists of color when they come to Miami Beach, starting around 2000 with the first Urban Beach Week over Memorial Day Weekend.
When elected officials refer to visitors of color as “thugs” or “animals” — or by their silence, co-signing when others say it — there are real-world consequences. Despite efforts by the police department to improve training and other protocols, if the message that officers are receiving from the media, the mayor, and others is that a certain group is unwelcome, their actions will follow suit.
As seen in the Derek Chauvin case, all the training in the world does not counteract flaws in the culture. The Minneapolis police department received implicit bias, de-escalation, and other forms of training — but it did not prevent the murder of George Floyd.
If the culture of the workplace promotes violence — one of the officers involved in the Miami Beach beating was promoted to sergeant in the months before his arrest — the underlying problem is not being resolved.
Separately, while it was positive to see a swift charging decision, in this case, battery charges are wholly insufficient.
With the officer kicking the handcuffed suspect person in the head, causing him to have to go to the hospital and get stitches, there was enough to sustain a charge of potentially aggravated battery, but at the very least, felony battery.
The prosecutor is not precluded from seeking what is called a lesser included offense of battery at trial. This gives the jury the option to choose what a person should be found guilty of, based on the evidence of the level of injuries presented at a trial.
Another felony charge that would have applied here is culpable negligence. When you are arrested, you are under the care, custody and control of the police department, which means they have a duty to take care of you. Kicking a suspect in the head clearly breaches that duty. Why these officers were not charged with felonies (based on what is publicly available) is a very critical question.
I am reminded of numerous other incidences on Miami Beach including the 2009 beating of a handcuffed Harold Strickland; the 2011 killing of Raymond Herisse after officers fired more than 100 bullets in a chase and shooting that left several bystanders wounded; the 2013 killing of graffiti artist Israel “Reefa” Hernandez, after being chased and tasered by police; racist text messages sent around the Miami Beach Police Department by officers and high-ranking officials in 2015; and how SWAT was deployed on Spring Breakers of color earlier this year. If this was the first incident in 20 years, “this is not who we are” would land differently. It is not so with high-profile incidents happening every few years.
The first step to fixing a problem is admitting there is one. There is no shame in that. The officers involved should be fired — Chief Clements began that process — but it will be a long road since the Florida Legislature has not seen fit to address the discipline of bad officers in this last legislative session, opting for the light fix of “more training.”
Chief Clements and Mayor Gelber should take a page out of Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola’s book when he stated that Miami Beach has not been welcoming to visitors of color, and work to change this.
The way forward is to encourage true community policing, listening to the recommendations of the Miami Beach Black Affairs Advisory Committee — which was convened after the drama of this year’s spring break. It is my understanding that they have completed their work with solid recommendations that Mayor Gelber has chosen not to implement.
This is not the time for performative politics. Lives hang in the balance. Political players who demonized tourists of color are partially to blame for this; they must take a hard look in the mirror as to how their public comments can affect lives in a terrible way. It is time to stop the dog whistles in discussing issues facing Miami Beach.
This is who the Miami Beach Police Department is. Accept it, fix it, and let’s move forward together so that no one else is harmed.
Melba Pearson is an attorney, author, speaker, wife and expert on criminal justice issues. She previously served as a homicide prosecutor in Miamii-Dade, and Deputy Director of the ACLU of Florida. Follow her on Twitter @ResLegalDiva.
