Miami PD To Hand Over Police-Involved Shooting Info To FDLE
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The City of Miami is set to hand over future investigations into police-involved shootings and in-custody deaths to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
According to our news partners, The Miami Herald, the move comes as the city nears an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over police-involved shooting cases from the past seven years.
The agreement, which is similar to an October agreement between the FDLE and Miami-Dade Police, would leave only a few Miami-Dade agencies able to investigate their own shootings.
Hialeah and Miami Beach, which took years to investigate a controversial police-involved shooting on Memorial Day 2011, would still be able to investigate their own shootings.
In the 2011 shooting, more than one agency fired more than 100 times, killing Raymond Herisse. The file remains open and in the hands of the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office which will determine if there was any criminal wrongdoing.
Miami leaders and elected officials voted on the handover Thursday.
The Miami City Commission passed a resolution allowing the FDLE to handle investigations into police involved shootings and deaths of those in police custody. The change is set to begin in March.
According to the paper, they see the switch as an additional layer of transparency. They also said it's an added layer of protection after national outrage over the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York.
Authorities and police union leaders view it as a public relations move at the expense of police and think it won't make a difference since the State Attorney's Office ultimately decides if there is criminal neglect in the case.
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report.)
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