Protesters opposed to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas pact are worried that police may seize on city fire code regulations as a pretext to raid the Design District headquarters of FTAA opponents.

So the protesters legal advisers wrote to Miami City Attorney Alex Vilarello this week to clarify their understanding of and compliance with Fire Department instructions.

Protesters are concerned because Miami Police Chief John Timoney was involved in a pre-emptive raid on protester facilities during his tenure as Philadelphia police chief.

In the run-up to the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, where Timoney was chief, 75 people were arrested on misdemeanor charges during a police raid on a warehouse used for the construction of demonstrators banners, signs and puppets. All but 10 of those arrested later had their charges dropped, while the rest got off with a slap on the wrist.

Gainesville lawyer Andrea Costello has written to Vilarello on behalf of the Thomas Merton Center, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit group that leased the building for the protesters. She stated that her clients wanted to comply with instructions received from Miami Fire Marshal Virgil Fernandez when he inspected the facility on Nov. 12.

The protesters, Costello wrote, had received contradictory information from other city officials regarding certification of code compliance. She asked Vilarello to clarify the certification requirements.

Costello warned in the letter that the unlawful and pretextual use of an administrative inspection would violate the protesters First and Fourth Amendment rights. She cited an alleged pattern of police surveillance and intimidation at the protest headquarters, which is located several miles north of downtown Miami.

But Fernandez said the protesters have nothing to worry about. They were all very cooperative, he told the Daily Business Review. If I had told them to go out and buy a dozen fire extinguishers, they would have done it.

I told them that since they would only be there a short period of time, there was no need to make major modifications, Fernandez said. My chief concern was that the main gate be locked open so that no one could trap them in there in case of fire.

Fernandez said that while the facility was in violation of minor technical points of the city s fire code, the code allows him to offer alternatives, which he did. If they do what I told them, they ll be safe, he said. I make that decision.

Vilarello s office did not return phone calls for comment. It has not replied to Costello s letter.

Risky business

Possibly anticipating trouble, the city of Miami increased its liability insurance in advance of the FTAA talks this week, paying an additional $125,000 in premium to double the policy limit to $10 million. But city officials have not explained where this money came from.

The insurance would cover the city for any civil lawsuits brought by protesters alleging police misconduct. Several such suits were successfully brought against the city of Philadelphia in the aftermath of the 2000 puppet warehouse raid there by Philadelphia police led by John Timoney.

For some time, the city has carried a policy that indemnifies it for up to $5 million in civil judgments in excess of statutory limits. Under state law, municipalities have sovereign immunity that limits their liability to $100,000 per individual claimant and $200,000 per incident.

Awards in excess of statutory limits can be collected only if authorized by the Florida Legislature. But according to West Palm Beach attorney Jim Green, an expert on police misconduct litigation, those sovereign immunity limits do not apply to federal claims brought under U.S. civil rights legislation, which is the basis of many protesters past lawsuits against police.

According to the city risk management office, the excess liability policy with State National Insurance Co. was renewed Oct. 1 at a total cost of $735,000. The existing $5 million in coverage came with a price tag of $610,000; an additional $5 million of coverage was added for $125,000.

The circumstances of the purchase are unclear. Castillo, City Manager Joe Arriola, Mayor Manny Diaz and several city commissioners did not return phone calls seeking comment. It was unclear who authorized the increase, why it was made and where in the city budget the money to pay for the increase was authorized.

A city spokeswoman said the increase in the city s liability coverage had nothing to do with concerns about liability associated with the FTAA conference this week.

A source close to the city attorney s office said Alex Vilarello was unaware any increased coverage had been purchased.

In Philadelphia in 2000, that city was insured against police misconduct claims under a $3 million policy purchased by the host committee for the Republican National Convention, which was the target of protesters there.

FTAA supporter Luis Lauredo, who organized this week s conference in Miami, did not respond to queries about the possibility that his group would help defray Miami s $125,000 in additional security costs.

Citing the size of awards in lawsuits brought by antiwar protesters of the 1970s, Green, an ACLU attorney in West Palm Beach, warned that if Miami police overreact to the FTAA demonstrations, $10 million will be a drop in the bucket.

Paddy wagon

Police reported eight arrests Wednesday.

Miami native Jan Orillac was arrested after he allegedly threw a smoke bomb at a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on a downtown street. Orillac was charged with one count of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony.

Seven men encamped at the former Burdines Mansion on upper Biscayne Boulevard were arrested after allegedly vandalizing the historic site. Police said they were in possession of crude weapons sticks and chains.

Protester legal observers complained of police harassment of an information site rented by Florida Fair Trade Coalition at the Bayside Marketplace, where police in riot gear allegedly pressured management to allow them entrance to the space.

The tenant never consented, said National Lawyers Guild attorney Marc Steier. It was clearly an unconstitutional and warrantless search.

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