On Tuesday, the city of Miami's Civilian Investigative Panel announced it was going to examine complaints against the Miami Police Department for the way it dealt with protests last month against the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

During their meeting, panel members said they wanted the public to know the CIP was eager to hear their concerns.

''This is a critical time in our community, and it is a critical issue,'' CIP member Peter Roulhac said in a subsequent interview. ``I, along with the other members of the CIP, felt this was an issue we needed to be engaged on.''

He said it was vital for members of the CIP to move into this review with an open mind and without any advance judgments about the conduct of the police.

Less than 24 hours after Tuesday's CIP meeting, Roulhac, who is also president of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, praised Miami police Chief John Timoney at a chamber luncheon ``for the amazingly professional work you did during the week of the Americas Business Forum and the [FTAA] ministerial.''

Roulhac then handed Timoney a plaque.

On Friday afternoon Roulhac denied that his comments meant that he had already made up his mind about the way the police conducted themselves. ''I just happen to be in one of those situations where I wear two hats, chairman of the chamber and a member of the CIP,'' he said.

During the luncheon Wednesday, he said he was just echoing the sentiments of ``business interests of the community who felt the police did a good job in terms of protecting business interests.''

He said his comments about Timoney were written for him by the chamber staff. ''Those were the comments I was given to read,'' he said.

Did you agree with them?

''I believe that the business interests felt very good, very secure, very protected,'' he said.

Haven't you made the work of your fellow panel members much tougher by standing alongside the chief, applauding his work and handing him a plaque? Haven't you harmed the CIP's credibility?

''No, I reject that out of hand,'' Roulhac said. ``I'm one of 13 people on the CIP. I wish you would speak to the chairman, Larry Handfield.''

Handfield said he was surprised by Roulhac's public tribute to Timoney. He said he learned about it only when I read him Roulhac's quote.

''I have purposely told CIP members to avoid even the appearance of being biased,'' he said. ``I knew there would be issues coming out of the FTAA that we would have to address. Standing up there and praising the chief probably was not the appropriate thing to do.

'It will be easy now for someone to ask, `How can you be objective when you have already thanked the person you are going to evaluate for doing a great job?' ''

When I informed Roulhac of Handfield's comments, he seemed stunned.

''I'm sorry he feels that way,'' said Roulhac, a vice president for community development with Wachovia. ``I think I can still provide input during the discussions, and I propose to do that.''

At this point, shouldn't you resign from the CIP?

''I don't think so,'' he said. ``But if the chairman, the executive director and the other members of the CIP feel I have irreparably damaged the CIP and their ability to conduct an impartial investigation, I will have to actively consider that.''

Roulhac should step down.

As he said, the investigation into allegations of police misconduct during the FTAA is a critical issue and his continued presence will only raise doubts about the CIP's desire to get to the truth.

In the meantime, Roulhac not withstanding, I do believe the CIP is interested in hearing complaints from people who feel they were mistreated by the police during the FTAA talks.

You can file a complaint online at www.ci.miami.fl.us/cip or by calling the CIP at 305-579-2444.

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