In deference to the request from the Commission, the Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) endeavored to obtain more information regarding issues encountered by law enforcement officials in Panama City during Spring Break 2022. MBPD reviewed news articles and contacted the Panama City Police Department to obtain direct information regarding the issues encountered, their response and lessons learned. As of this memo deadline, however, and due to the short turn around for information, the Department will address their responses in person once received.
The Department maintains a constant state of readiness to respond to and address instances of civil disobedience in line with law enforcement best practices. The MBPD accomplishes this through planning, training, mutual aid with neighboring agencies and community outreach. It maintains a team of officers and supervisors who specialize in responding to disturbances called the Rapid Intervention Team (RIT). The RIT is often deployed to monitor planned protests and intervene in the event the participants violate the law and commence to engage in violent or riotous behavior. This team has received extensive training and is equipped with the latest safety and response equipment in order to provide a specialized police response that differentiates between lawful, constitutionally-protected activity, and unlawful riotous actions requiring direct intervention.
MBPD RIT Commanders are trained to the Department of Homeland Security, Center for Domestic Preparedness' national standards for identification of types of protest, legal considerations, responsibilities of mobile field force teams, and crowd-control methods.
The RIT also participates as one of the lead agencies in a regional civil disturbance response team known as the Regional Mobile Field Force. This team, consists of officers and supervisors from multiple agencies throughout Miami-Dade County to include:
- The City of Miami Beach Police Department
- The City of Surfside Police Department
- The Village of Bal Harbour Police Department
- The City of Bay Harbor Islands Police Department
- The Town of Golden Beach Police Department
- The City of North Miami Police Department
- The City of North Miami Beach Police Department
- The City of North Bay Village Police Department
- The Village of Key Biscayne Police Department
- The City of Aventura Police Department
In 2020 members of this team were deployed to numerous protests and violent disturbances throughout Miami-Dade County in the aftermath of the death of Mr. George Floyd.
MBPD was among the first agencies in the country to utilize Goodwill Ambassadors to engage crowds to de-escalate prior to the need for police intervention. This type of intervention by community leaders has been successful in de-escalating potentially violent crowds, thus eliminating the need for direct police intervention. The use of Goodwill Ambassadors has become the model for Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County and continues to be a trusted method of intervention when dealing with large crowds.
Additionally, MBPD Commanders periodically review industry best practices and introduce new tactics, training, and equipment based on those recommended best practices. In February 2022, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) published a report entitled:
“Rethinking the Police Response to Mass Demonstrations: 9 Recommendations” - policeforum.org. (https://www.policeforum.org/assets/ResponseMassDemonstrations.pdf)
In reviewing the 9 PERF recommendations, we verified that the MBPD current practices are in-line with the PERF recommendations.