Miami Police Department: History, Structure & Community Policing

Introduction

The Miami Police Department is only one of several law enforcement agencies in the Miami area. For outsiders in particular, the complexities of the region can be difficult to understand, with important distinctions to be made between Miami and Miami Beach, and between the Miami Police Department and the larger Miami-Dade Police Department, the latter being a county-wide agency. The Miami Police Department has a history of more than a century of service to the people of Miami, with its foundations rooted in the city charter established around the turn of the twentieth century. The department has grown steadily over the years and has kept pace with new developments in police work. The city has also grown during this same period and has faced new problems associated with changes in crime rates, shifts in the types of crimes committed, and other concerns — from racial tensions to new social priorities and, more recently, the threat of terrorism on American soil. Much of South Florida has also had to cope with issues related to Cuba and the large influx of Cubans fleeing the Castro regime, including the infamous episode in which Cuban criminals were exported to Florida approximately three decades ago.

The city of Miami was created through the efforts of Mrs. Julia Tuttle and Mr. Henry Flagler. They shared a vision of a new tropical paradise, and this vision came to fruition in 1896 when 312 original "Miamians" voted to incorporate the new municipality. At the same time, they elected their first law enforcement officer, Mr. Young F. Gray, a dynamite expert who worked for Mr. Flagler's construction company. Marshal Gray patrolled the city of 1,500 citizens in his goat-drawn cart, rounding up stray dogs and the occasional outlaw. He also served as the city's building inspector, sidewalk and street superintendent, sanitation inspector, and tax collector, and he was able to supplement his $50-a-month salary with a small percentage of the taxes he collected.

History of Miami and Its Police Department

Changes were made in 1905 with a new city charter that increased the marshal's term in office from one year to two years. In 1907, another city charter abolished the office of marshal altogether in favor of the newly established Miami Police Department under a Chief of Police, with Frank B. Hardee being the first to hold that position (History of the MPD, 2007). The city continued to grow so that by 1910, the population had increased to 5,000. The first City Hall was completed and opened on Flagler Street. In 1911, Mr. Robert Ferguson became the second Chief of Police. He established the Desk Sergeant position and created the ranks of captain and lieutenant for the force. He also pioneered the use of horse-drawn wagons, plainclothes officers, mounted patrol, a traffic squad, and motorcycle police patrols.

The first officer was killed in the line of duty in the summer of 1915, during a gun battle with a notorious outlaw gang during an attempted jailbreak. The next chief, elected in 1916, was Raymond F. Dillon, and under his leadership the department hired its first female police officer, Mrs. Ida Fisher. The department also instituted the Bertillon fingerprinting system and began replacing horse-drawn wagons with Ford patrol cars (History of the MPD, 2007).

Miami shifted to a commissioner/manager form of city government in 1921, and the Police Department changed accordingly. Under the new system, the City Manager would appoint both the Chief of Police and the Public Safety Director. Police officers were placed under civil service guidelines establishing age requirements, physical and written examinations, and probationary requirements. The City Manager appointed Mr. Leslie Quigg as the first Chief of Police under this system. During Chief Quigg's tenure, the Miami Police Department grew from 40 people to over 200 employees. Chief Quigg also reorganized the department into four divisions — traffic, detectives, vice, and motors — and created a school police force while actively working to improve relations between the department and the public (History of the MPD, 2007).

Even greater changes were achieved in the 1930s and 1940s. The police radio system was established, and the Police Benevolent Association was created to give officers assistance in dealing with civil service issues. In 1944, under Chief Charles Nelson, the first Black police officers were trained and deployed in Miami's Black neighborhoods. In 1947, the Civil Service Commission conferred civil service status on these officers, though full integration into the department would not come for several years (History of the MPD, 2007).

The Miami Police Academy was created in 1945 and was the first police academy in Florida to grant college credit for law enforcement training. Classes at the time ran approximately six weeks and included 198 hours of training, with an average of three classes annually, usually consisting of nine recruits per class. The last Miami Police Academy class was Recruit Class #82, which graduated in 1973 after 960 hours of training (Mission and Overview, 2007).

In 1949, female officers began training at the Police Academy and became sworn members of the department. Then-Chief Headley created the Black Precinct in 1950, a racially distinct element that remained in place for twelve years. New headquarters opened in 1956. Chief Headley also established a fully professional Police Academy, introduced the "drunkometer" and the polygraph, and founded a modern scientific crime laboratory (History of the MPD, 2007).

During the 1970s, the Miami Police Department continued working to improve community relations. In 1974, Chief Bernard Garmire and Chief Garland Watkins established one of the nation's first para-professional apprenticeships, known as the Public Service Aide Program. In 1976, the department relocated to a new, modern headquarters, and by 1979 it had developed one of the first Integrated Criminal Apprehension Programs. However, 1980 would be one of the worst years in the city's history: two separate court verdicts outraged Miami's Black community and set off three days of bloody rioting. This period also coincided with the Mariel boatlift, which brought over 125,000 new Cuban refugees into Miami after Fidel Castro emptied his jails, sending more than 10,000 convicted criminals and people with special needs among the legitimate refugees. As a result, Miami experienced an unprecedented crime wave (History of the MPD, 2007).

The city had two Black police chiefs in the years that followed, and they worked to change the public image of the department even as the city was torn by racial strife. One initiative was the Do The Right Thing Program, a highly successful effort tailored to young students in Miami. The program rewarded youngsters who excelled academically and made significant contributions to their communities, and it eventually became a national organization with chapters across the country. A major restructuring after 1991 created a city governance model composed of 11 separate Neighborhood Enhancement Teams. Each team served as a governmental center to administer the various needs of the city, and the Miami Police Department assigned staff to each team to address quality-of-life issues and law enforcement needs in each community (History of the MPD, 2007).

Lewis (1992) shows that efforts to improve relationships with the community often fell short, particularly with respect to the Black community. Lewis notes that in 1992, the U.S. Justice Department forced the City of Miami Beach to sign a consent decree requiring the city to pay $550,000 in back wages to African American and Hispanic police and fire department applicants who had been unfairly denied jobs since 1986. At the time, none of the city's 199 firefighters were Black, and only five of the 313 police officers were Black. Miami had a Black population of only 3.6 percent, but the employment pool included Dade County, which had a 21 percent Black population (Lewis, 1992).

The Police and the Community

A new chief appointed in 1994 oversaw the hosting of the Summit of the Americas, the largest gathering of heads of state ever convened in America. The police department demonstrated a high level of professional law enforcement and contributed significantly to the success of the event. By this time, the department had made a strong commitment to the philosophy and practice of community policing, and to that end the HEROS (Helping Enforcement Reach Our Streets) Program was introduced, including the Citizens On Patrol program. This initiative enlisted, trained, and equipped citizens to patrol their own communities. The department also earned accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) standards.

As the 1990s came to a close, Miami experienced a sustained decline in crime. In 1997, the crime rate dropped by 5 percent; in 1998, major crimes fell by another 11 percent, followed by an identical decline in 1999. Simultaneously, the department received substantial federal grants — $19 million in 1997 and $45 million in 1998 — to support its efforts (History of the MPD, 2007).

Not all assessments were positive, however. Sugarman (1998) writes that the city is a microcosm of cultural diversity but is also "plagued by corruption, racism, poverty and drugs" (para. 1), and suggests this may foreshadow challenges for the rest of America. Travel and Leisure magazine deemed the city "the most unfriendly city in America," while Fodor's International called it the nation's "most unsafe" destination, and George magazine labeled it the "most corrupt city in America." These characterizations were fueled by political scandals, a history of high-level corruption, rampant crime, and a climate of alienation and violence. By that time, some 300 city or Dade County officials had been indicted. Entire city departments came under scrutiny, including the Miami-Dade building department, which was cited by a grand jury for failing to enforce building codes, accepting kickbacks, and ignoring serious flaws in a major construction project. Contributing factors to this corruption included a stagnant pay scale, the rapid growth of the Cuban community, and a worsening drug problem.

Miami became a center of national attention in 2000 when the Cuban émigré community reacted strongly to the Immigration and Naturalization Service's actions regarding the refugee status of young Elian Gonzalez, and the police department was deployed in response to demonstrations and protests. The city's first Hispanic police chief was appointed that year. Following the terrorist attacks of 2001, the Miami Police Department reassessed its role and its relationships with other local, state, and federal emergency response services. Under Chief Martinez's leadership, Miami's crime rates continued to decline, falling 11 percent in 2001 and another 4 percent in 2002. A change in leadership came in 2003, by which time the Miami Police Department had grown into an agency with over 1,400 sworn and civilian personnel and an annual operating budget exceeding $100 million (History of the MPD, 2007).

Conclusion

The Miami Police Department has grown with the city and has maintained a high degree of effectiveness by adopting new methods and adapting to changing conditions. The department has encountered serious problems along the way but has also worked to correct them. Today, the department serves the city in a manner that brings people together as much as possible, reflecting the multicultural character of Miami and its people.