The results of a comprehensive Justice Department investigation into the Miami Police Department’s intentional shootings of civilians on 33 separate occasions between 2008 and 2011 determined that the police department engaged in an unconstitutional “pattern or practice of excessive use of force through officer-involved shootings.”
The report, released Tuesday, also found that a number of the Miami Police Department’s practices, including “deficient tactics, improper actions by specialized units, as well as egregious delays and substantive deficiencies in deadly force investigations” contributed to the use of excessive force.
“Although MPD appeared to correct course after our first investigation, many of the systemic problems that we previously identified returned to root deeply in MPD’s practices. Our findings should serve as a catalyst to help MPD and the city of Miami restore the community’s confidence in fair, effective and accountable law enforcement,” said Roy L. Austin, Jr., deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, in a release.
In a letter to the police department and City of Miami, DOJ said that seven officers participated in over a third of the 33 shootings. The DOJ also wrote that the City of Miami did not deal with these investigations internally in a timely manner, saying that doing so may have led to the removal of some of these officers and “prevented the harm that can result from officers’ repeated shootings.”
This is the second probe into the Miami police in recent years, with the Justice Department finding similar “deeply rooted” problems in an investigation that started in 2002.
