By Paul Waldmiller
Did you know that there is a proposed bill in the Florida legislature to eliminate all local civilian police review boards?
Last week a Florida Senate bill, 576 cleared its first hearing in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. The sponsor, Senator Blaise Ingoglia R-Spring Hill, stated that this bill if became law, would “create uniformity across the state.”
In reality, the bill would prohibit local municipalities and county jurisdictions from adopting or enforcing ordinances related to “the receipt, processing, or investigation … of complaints of misconduct by law enforcement or correctional officers.”
Florida Representative, Dianne Hart, D-Tampa, who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, stated that she believes that the bill will pass.
Large municipalities such as St. Petersburg, Tampa and Orlando have local civilian police review boards already in place. Many other, but smaller municipalities also have similar review boards including Bradenton, Delray Beach, Ocoee, Winter Have, and more.
Several mayors have already publicly commented with opposition against the bill including St. Petersburg Mayor, Ken Welch. He said of the proposed bill, “I believe that locally elected folks know how to work with their community. These kind of blanket solutions to problems that don’t exist, aren’t moving us forward.”