Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville, Florida. (Screengrab via WKMG).
The fate of civilian boards that review complaints of police misconduct now lies with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Florida state legislature sent HB 601 to the governor for signing Wednesday, which disbands existing civilian-run police review boards and instead creates only oversight boards that are appointed directly by law enforcement officers themselves.
The bill’s stated purpose is to create “uniformity” across the state with respect to misconduct investigations against police and corrections officers.
HB 601 unanimously passed the Republican-dominated Florida Senate and passed the Florida House 87-29. DeSantis now has until April 25 to act on the bill.
The law prohibits municipalities as follows:
A political subdivision may not adopt or attempt to enforce any ordinance relating to either of the following:
(a) The receipt, processing, or investigation by any political subdivision of this state of complaints of misconduct by law enforcement or correctional officers, except as expressly provided in this section.
(b) Civilian oversight of law enforcement agencies’ investigations of complaints of misconduct by law enforcement or correctional officers.
It also creates “civilian oversight” boards of three to seven members, all of which are appointed by the local sheriff, one member of which must always be a retired police officer.
Currently, more than 20 Florida cities have civilian review boards that investigate complaints against police. Those cities include Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Key West, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Miami, Orlando, Pensacola, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach. Although the boards typically conduct investigations into complaints of officer misconduct, under Florida law, civilian panels may not discipline officers, nor may they issue subpoenas or compel an officer to testify.
Florida state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, sponsored the bill to eliminate civilian review boards. When Duggan introduced the legislation, he explained the reasons why he believes the existing civilian review boards should be disbanded.
“It can drag on and on, which for the officer is very stressful and time-consuming and potentially costly if they have to hire private counsel,” Duggan said of the current review process.
Duggan also said that the boards disadvantage law-abiding citizens, “because the kind of quality police officer that everybody wants might decide, ‘Well, I don’t want to go to that jurisdiction where I have no protection and I have no certainty and I have no confidence about what could happen to me.””
A 2023 report by the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University studied the use of “civilian oversight agencies” (“COAs”) and found that COAs increase citizen trust of the police force, improve communication between the police and the community, decrease racial disparities, and improve officer behavior.
“This leads to a conclusion that more cities in Florida should adopt COAs,” the report said. “The research shows the stark decrease in Black arrest rates in cities with COAs while presenting a net positive for both officers and civilians. As there is an increased push for transparency in police departments and the public, COAs can be a step in improving both officer and civilian behavior.”
The ACLU of Florida opposes HB601 and has said that eliminating civilian review boards “invalidates the work local communities have put into attempting to increase trust between residents and law enforcement.”
NR Hines, policy strategist at the ACLU of Florida, denounced the legislation as an unnecessary and dangerous measure that would put Floridians at risk.
“At a time where society’s perception of law enforcement varies widely, not surprising due to the lived experiences of marginalized communities, improving the public sentiment of law enforcement through local initiatives should be a top priority of this legislature,” Hines said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the only solution the legislature sees is to once again remove local power, while they continue to waste our tax dollars on bad policies that restrict our freedoms and undermine our democracy.”
In addition to its quest to eliminate civilian review boards, the Florida legislature also sent a bill to DeSantis Wednesday that would make it a crime to harass law enforcement officers, correctional probation officers, firefighters or emergency medical care providers while they are on duty. SB 184 makes it a second-degree misdemeanor for an individual to get within 25 feet of first responders after being warned against interference with their work.
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