Florida bill abolishing civilian review boards for police officers passes committee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A bill that would remove law enforcement civilian review boards in the state for police officers passed through a Florida Senate committee.

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, filed the bill, SB 576, which recently passed favorably with a 6-2 vote through a Senate Committee on Criminal Justice.

Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, filed a comparable bill, HB 601, in the House.

“When it comes to complaints against law enforcement officers specifically, [the bill] says that these civilian review boards are no longer allowed to be in the state of Florida,” Ingoglia said. “It does not make sense to me and to others that I have spoken that we have these civilian review boards that are not made up of people who understand the process.”

A civilian review board consists of members of the public who review complaints against law enforcement officers and make recommendations of disciplinary action after the police department has completed its own investigation and made a disciplinary recommendation, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Ingoglia said some jurisdictions have the review boards and others don’t, “some of them are very controversial.”

The senator pointed to other occupations, such as construction contractors. He said if a complaint is filed against a construction contractor, they must go before the licensing board made up of contractors who “understand the issues.”

“Officers have a very tough job,” Ingoglia said. “When they leave in the morning, they don’t know if they’re going to return at night. It does not make sense to me that we have people second guessing those decisions, especially if they are already being investigated by internal affairs or by the State’s Attorney’s Office.”

“Those people actually know what they’re doing, and they have the investigatory powers to get to the bottom of some of these issues,” he continued. “I think it’s time that we get rid of these civilian review boards in the state.”

On Instagram, Florida Rising called the bill an “anti-police accountability bill.” They said both versions of the bill are “direct attacks on the democratic process” and encouraged their followers to tell their legislators to oppose them.

“Instead of legislating real solutions, the Republican-dominated legislature has gotten FAR too comfortable issuing bills that restrict or eliminate local government’s ability to regulate specific issues, AKA preemption bills,” the group said.

Florida Rising describes itself as a group that advances “economic and racial justice” in Florida. The group has taken stances on housing and police related issues.

During the meeting, some members of the public spoke in opposition of the bill.

American Civil Liberties Union Policy Strategist NR Heins said “improving the public sentiment” of law enforcement through local initiatives “should be a top priority” of the legislature.

“Unfortunately, the only solution that y’all see is to, once again, remove local power and use our tax dollars on bad policies that restrict the freedoms and undermine the democracy of the people on the local level,” Heins said.

Barney Bishop of the Florida Smart Justice Alliance spoke in favor of the bill and brought up the Tallahassee Civilian Review Board and said the board was “stacked with some people that were anti-police community activists.”

“In fact, they don’t have to follow any rules,” Bishop said. “These boards need to have as many people that are anti-police as they have pro-police if we’re going to keep them, but we really shouldn’t. They don’t serve a good purpose.”

Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, voted against the bill. He said if there is “a problem with civilian review boards, there should be a set of criteria” to determine who sits on the board to “make sure those boards are balanced.”

He said eliminating civilian review boards is “too much.”

“I believe that we should be working to build trust between our law enforcement entities and our communities,” Powell said.

In closing, Ingoglia said he believes the civilian review boards are “divisive.”

“I do not think that they are serving the public well, other than to second guess, again, in a court of public opinion, creating a public perception, the results of an IA investigation or the results of a criminal investigation by the state’s attorney’s office,” Ingoglia said.

He said he thinks there is a way for civilian input to be incorporated, but “it should be limited to policies and procedures.”

If passed by both legislative chambers and signed by the governor, the bill would take effect July 1.