Miami Police Department which is also referred to as the City of Miami Police, is the main police department in the southeast of US, Miami, Florida. The organization is known for its developments over time in how it is organized, governed and the way it responds to the issues of terrorism, crime and community relations. A greater emphasis is given on the way it is operated today. It may be difficult to understand the complexities of the region with differences made between the Miami, Miami- Dade Police Department and Miami Beach. Miami Police Department has a history of serving the people of Miami for more than a century and has grown over the years with global developments in police departments. With the growth of many problems associated with crime rates, the department also has growth to face the problems from racial changes to the recent terrorist threat on American soil.
The jurisdiction of the Miami Police Department lies in the limits of Miami city, but there exist mutual aid agreements between the department and neighboring police departments. The chief police of the department are Jorge Colina, and they are distinguishable from the other counterparts with their blue and white patrol cars and blue uniforms. The department’s police patrol in three districts including twelve neighborhoods in the central, north and south districts (Reaves, 2015). The rank insignia for the sergeant, senior patrol officer, and senior patrol sergeant is worn under the shoulder patch on the upper sleeves while that for lieutenant through chief is worn on their shirt’s collar.
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The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) recognized the Miami Police Department in 2010, by rewarding a special award because the community policing initiatives. The initiatives were aimed at making improvements on the homeland security of Miami City. It was also single out the best in the list of more than 18,000 federal police departments in the United States (Mioduszewski & Kubrin, 2018) . The organization is also diverse with 82 percent of the police officers being male while 18 percent being women in which 54 percent of them are Hispanic, 27% African American and 19% whites.
The Miami Police Department hires approximately 400 and 1,275 sworn and civilian personnel who are responsible for keeping the city of Miami safe for workers, residents, and visitors. The department including the 21st-century technology embraces a community policing philosophy. There are also other initiatives including strong social media presence and body-worn cameras, that enables the department to fight common crimes in the city. For an individual to become a Miami PD Officer, several procedures have to be followed, and the first step is meeting the prospective officers’ minimum qualifications (Reaves, 2015). An individual also has to pass the Criminal Justice Basic Ability Test in Law enforcement and the Florida Basic Ability Test in Law enforcement. Other procedures include finishing the online application, orientation, polygraph test, passing the physical abilities, psychological and background investigations tests, interview, drug screening, and medical examination tests. Then, an individual can begin working as a Miami Police Officer.
The department also has community policing programs that identify and implement the policed services in the neighborhood to improve the quality of life, reduce the crime rate and engage the members of the community in solving problems and building partnerships. The dedication of police officers in the improvement of the citizens’ lives is an integral part of the Miami Police Department in cultivating partnership between schools, parents and the community. This helps in developing active and productive youthful leaders in the community of Florida. The officers are responsible for proving mentorship, diversional programs and after-school tutoring in Miami. The programs formulated by the department has dedicated leaders who promote and ensure the education, safety, and welfare of the residents throughout Miami.
The organization consists of specialized units including the Specialized Operations Section, Traffic, Special Threat Response Unit, and Crime Suppression Unit. The Specialized Operations Section provides a broad variety of law enforcement specialists who are entitled to augment all the uninformed elements of patrol including the details of investigators within the law enforcement agencies. The Special Threat Response Unit comprises of all the personnel making up the Tactics details and special weapons that respond to occasions that are beyond the measures and capabilities of the conventional patrol officers. Other officers who are assigned in the Marine, Canine and Mounted Patrol Details have unique skills that help in supporting the unusual situations (Reaves, 2015). The Traffic Unit consists of traffic officers who are responsible for managing all traffic-related incidents within the city. The Crime Suppression Unit has officers with special training and skills in combating different street crimes that directly impact the lives of citizens including strong-arm robbery, narcotics, and assaults.
Miami was known as one of the major leading capitals in the rate of murder but after the establishment of the Miami Police department, the rate dropped. The fast-growing capital with about 500,000 residents, has been occasionally ranked with about 300 homicides every year especially during the drug-fueled 1980s (Mioduszewski & Kubrin, 2018) . The city recorded 51 homicides in 2018 drown from 59 of 2019 which has been its lowest since 1967. The decrease in crime rate has been attributed by strong leadership and a combination of cameras, crime-fighting techniques and dedicated residents who work hand in hand with the police in stopping the crimes before happening.2018 also saw a major drop in burglaries down to 11 %, 17% robberies and assaults and batteries 6% of the previous years (Sullivan et al., 2017) . However, the rates do not show major success; the city is implementing other ways that will help the department fight all the crimes.
Despite the major successes, the department has faced investigations by the U.S Department of Justice and Controversy over speeding. The Miami Police department has been investigated by the department of justice twice since 2002. Between 2011 and 20113, a civil investigation was carried out and found that the department was engaging in excessive force through police officers who were involved in shootings which were a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. The officers also shot about 33 people on separate occasions, between 2008 and 2011 in which three were found unjustified by the department (Sullivan et al., 2017) . A number of the department’s practices were also found by the U.S DOJ including improper actions by the specialized units, defiant tactics and substantive defiance’s including egregious delays. All the actions contributed to a practice of excessive force and were found justified.
The city had to enter a judicially overseen agreement with the Department of Justice. The Chief of police was commended for taking the steps in addressing some of the deficiencies that were identified since the beginning of investigations. However, the Chief of Police criticized some of the investigations done which labeled the department as a hatchet and slipshod job against the agency. Adding to his arguments, he also argued that the final report was vague, lacked substantial evidence, had baseless and omissions conclusions.
The department has also faced a major controversy in 2011 over officer Fausto Lopez’s over speeding to a moonlighting job and was caught after a 7-minute chase by a state trooper in a viral video. A feud started between the Miami Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol which involved insults, accusations, and posters that attacked the stated trooper who stopped Lopez. An investigation was further conducted by South Florida Sun-Sentinel on the issue and found that 800 police officers were over speeding their vehicles especially when they were off duty (Sullivan et al., 2017) . One hundred fifty-eight officers and state troopers were disciplined and others suspended over the controversy.
The Miami Police Department has had major impacts on the community. Nonetheless, it remains unsatisfactory due to policing and preconceptions that are influenced by the type of information exposed. The relationship between the community and police has been an elusive phenomenon not only in the United States but also in other countries around the world. The department cannot be trusted of the excessive use of force by the police officers especially to females committing a crime. The police also ignore some cases while attending to others more quickly. This shows the level of corruption that still exists in the department. The brutality and corruption in the department has been a major problem that has failed to be controlled making most civilians mistrust the police.
The negative encounters with the police also bring a negative attitude towards the department even though it was indirect through friends or family members. The police have been treating the racial minority groups without minding their rights as the normal citizens of the U.S through traffic stops, frisks, arrests, and disproportionate incarceration. There exist margins between the mean responses of the minorities and the whites especially on the statements measuring the role of Miami police to the entire community of Florida. The police encounter with the community members of the region around Miami shows the impunity that still exists in the department hence bringing unsatisfaction.
In conclusion, the Miami Police Department is known for its major developments in fighting crimes and other injustices around the city of Miami which has had a major impact. There are various aspects of the organization including the size of the organization, hiring procedures, the jurisdictions they serve, community policing programs, specialized units, crime rates, and the overall impression on the Miami Police Department. Despite the major success of the Miami Police Department in fighting crime, there is a need for more strategies and disciple among the police officers to bring out satisfaction among the members of the community.
References
Mioduszewski, M. D., & Kubrin, C. E. (2018). Theoretical Perspectives on the Immigration-Crime Relationship. In Routledge Handbook on Immigration and Crime (pp. 80-92). Routledge.
Reaves, B. A. (2015). Local police departments, 2013: Personnel, policies, and practices. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics .
Sullivan, J., Thebault, R., Tate, J., & Jenkins, J. (2017). Number of fatal shootings by police is nearly identical to last year. Washington Post , 1 .
