After months of probing the Miami Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice has found that the agency has serious flaws in the ways it conducts searches and seizures, uses firearms, defines use of force and works with police dogs.
Miami police Chief John Timoney said the report released Thursday does not have any big surprises but outlines problem areas that the department is also looking at internally. He added that he was not ready to agree or disagree with the findings.
''We're already looking at every area they are looking at,'' Timoney said. ``On almost every issue, we don't complain.''
The inquiry began last year at the city's request after several controversial police shootings. The preliminary report, released Thursday as the biggest Miami police corruption trial in two decades winds down in federal court, found:
• Department policy permits officers to carry high-velocity military rifles at work, and it does not enforce the requirement that makes officers clear with supervisors the kinds of guns they are allowed to use.
The recommendation: Reconsider letting officers use military rifles and make them clear with supervisors every year the guns they use.
• The department does not have a clear definition of appropriate use of force and fails to provide officers with clear guidance on what constitutes a reasonable use of force.
The recommendation: Make clear which response is appropriate for specific types of resistance.
• The department does not specify whether it uses a ''find and bite'' or ''find and bark'' policy with police dogs.
The recommendation: Explicitly adopt a ''find and bark'' policy.
• The department does not have a policy telling officers when they can search and detain a person during a street stop.
The recommendation: Adopt a policy on street stops and search-and-seizure.
The report states that the findings ''do not reach any conclusion'' about whether the department's policies are causing civil rights violations. The investigators still need to review incident reports, shooting files, citizen complaint files, arrest reports and early warning system files.
Timoney said one thing he does not agree with is the Justice Department's recommendation that Miami adopt a ``foot pursuit policy.''
''I've never heard of that,'' Timoney said.
Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and former police Chief Raul Martinez last year asked the Justice Department to investigate Miami police's patterns and practices in the hopes of regaining police credibility and public support.
The investigation, along with the police trial, has hovered like a cloud over the department's image. On Thursday, the city's Civilian Investigative Panel formed to probe police misconduct, met for the first time for training.
Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said it was ''ironic'' that this report was released the same day.
''The community coalition that wrote the CIP and lobbied for its passage hopes the new chief and the newly installed members of the CIP will address these issues immediately,'' Simon said.
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