Bill bans civilian boards from probing police

DeSantis Oks law that lets chief or sheriff create own oversight

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill Friday stripping citizen oversight boards of their power to investigate police misconduct.

The bill, HB 601, instead allows local chiefs of police agencies to create their own “civilian oversight” boards composed of three to seven members, all appointed by the chief or sheriff. But these boards can only review policies and procedures, not oversee use-of-force complaints or internal affairs investigations.

The new legislation “puts the kibosh on these extrajudicial investigations against law enforcement,” DeSantis said at a news conference at the St. Johns County Sheriff ’s Office, describing the boards as “stacked with activists.”

The law does not allow members of the boards to be appointed by local governments.

“You have review boards, that’s fine, but it’s got to be done in ways where you have the Sheriff or Chief of Police appointing people,” the governor said. “It can’t be people that have an agenda.”

DeSantis was joined Friday by Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, as well as the bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Duval, and Rep. Alex Rizo, R-Miami-Dade.

While legislators who sponsored the bill said it did not remove civilian oversight boards entirely, critics said it effectively banned them, removing an important source of input and transparency for Floridians.

“I think the attempt is to eliminate these boards,” Marc Dickerman, the vice chair of the Fort Lauderdale Police Advisory Board, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel, adding that the law “is, to me, almost a death knell for boards throughout the state.”

Florida has 21 civilian police oversight boards, according to the LeRoy Collins Institute, a nonpartisan policy organization at Florida State University. South Florida currently has at least two advisory boards with civilians on them, one in Fort Lauderdale and one in Delray Beach. West Palm Beach also established a use-of-force advisory board in 2019, though all of the board members are appointed from within the police department, except for a legal adviser.

Prior to the bill signing, those boards had the power to review investigations of officers. But Fort Lauderdale’s board, like many others, served purely in an advisory role and could not make official determinations in any of the cases it reviewed, according to the board’s current chair, Paul Eichner.

Asked how the new law would change the board, Eichner reserved making any comment, saying he awaited instruction from the city attorney.

Board members currently review cases once internal affairs has completed its investigation and provided its results to the chief, Dickerman said. If the board decides the investigation was incomplete, it can go back to internal affairs and tell them. After reviewing the investigation, the board is told what the punishment for the officer is going to be, and can then provide input on the punishment.

Sometimes, the board recommends harsher punishments, but other times it recommends softer ones, Eichner said.

“This is not a board that’s hellbent to vilify the police department,” he added. Fort Lauderdale’s board has often been made up of businesspeople, lawyers, and retirees.

“I don’t think any of them have come in with a preconceived notion that something is good or bad, or people are good or bad, or depart

ments,” he said.

Scott Moseley, the president of the Fort Lauderdale Police union, FOP #31, thanked DeSantis for his support in an emailed statement, saying, “In response to HB 601, we look forward to continuing our partnership with the City of Fort Lauderdale Citizens Police Review Board. While we understand the process has been refined, we believe that by working together, we can further enhance the effectiveness of our law enforcement practices while maintaining the exemplary standards of professionalism and service that our Fort Lauderdale Police Officers consistently deliver to our community.”

In recent years, Fort Lauderdale’s advisory board has reviewed a variety of cases, from a detention officer charged with killing his girlfriend to an officer accused of slapping a homeless person at a bus stop. Some of the cases the board has reviewed have also given them ideas for changes to policies and necessary trainings for officers.

“HB 601 invalidates the work local communities have put into attempting to increase trust between residents and law enforcement,” ACLU Florida policy strategist NR Hines said in a February statement. “Having a community that feels empowered to hold law enforcement in their area accountable is better for all Floridians.”

But law enforcement officials who support the law say that the boards subject their officers to unwanted scrutiny.

“I wish the ACLU would get things right instead of getting them wrong,” Glass, the FDLE commissioner, said at the bill signing Friday. “… I commend this legislation establishing these oversight boards for looking at policies and procedures because that’s where it starts at. These men and women do not need to be scrutinized again and again by a committee that has no idea what they’re talking about.”

A report listed on the FDLE website and removed sometime after January 2024 had surveyed a small subset of agencies with citizen review boards throughout the state and concluded that the boards were largely effective. Police agencies should have them and select an independent body not affiliated with the agency to recommend their members, the report said.

Two of the survey questions asked agencies “if the citizen review board has received a positive reaction by the rank and file of the agency” and “if the citizen review board has received a positive reaction from the community,” to which the majority of agencies said yes.

“Overall, based on the data collected I would say that the use of citizens review board for the most part is being used and are being effective,” the author, Lt. James Dilimone, said. “Even to the point that survey data reveals that the rank and file are accepting of the boards and their recommendations. A step in the right direction in this day and age of police mistrust.”

DeSantis also signed a second bill Friday, SB 184, which creates a 25-foot buffer that prevents people from “harassing” police officers, firefighters and emergency personnel when they are working. Bystanders who disregard a verbal warning and approach with an intent to interfere, harass or threaten could be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.