In many ways, the task confronting Miami's fledgling Civilian Investigative Panel is unfair. Untested and with no time to learn, the CIP is being called upon to investigate the conduct of the Miami Police Department during November's Free Trade Area of the Americas Summit.

Yet even in its infancy, the CIP needs to be smarter. Take the story of CIP member Peter Roulhac, who, in his capacity as chairman of the Miami Chamber of Commerce, gave an award to Miami Police Chief John Timoney on Dec. 3, for ``the amazingly professional work you did during the week of the Americas Business Forum and the [FTAA] ministerial.''

On Dec. 7, my column noted the unmistakable appearance of a conflict of interest. From everything I have heard, Roulhac is an honorable man, who I am sure regrets giving what he considered a perfunctory award to the police chief on behalf of the chamber. Nevertheless, he should have resigned that very day.

What bothers me most is the naiveté of Roulhac and his fellow CIP members in not realizing that the moment Roulhac's statements about the chief became public he was irreversibly tainted. Instead, members of the CIP made matters worse by giving Roulhac a vote of confidence in December. They forgot that their first duty is not to each other, but to the public.

When the CIP held its first public hearing Thursday on police misconduct during the FTAA, speaker after speaker stood up to castigate Roulhac and demand he resign, arguing his presence caused them to doubt the CIP's intentions.

On Friday, Roulhac finally stepped down, saying he wanted to ''restore credibility'' to the CIP.

The members of this panel must get smarter faster. I'm not sure they fully appreciate that the CIP is like no other board they have ever served on. The controversy surrounding the police and the FTAA isn't just a local issue. It is a national issue with some of the most powerful interest groups in the country watching these proceedings. And if CIP members don't have the stomach to do hard and unpleasant work, they should resign.

The CIP has to hire an independent attorney to act as its legal advisor immediately. It also has the budget to hire two investigators, who can begin examining the many allegations being made. The fate of the CIP could very well rest on the quality of those two investigators. They must be aggressive and fearless.

Throughout Thursday's CIP meeting, board members chastised the public for not coming forward to file formal complaints. ''It's a complaint system,'' CIP member Donald Bierman told me after the meeting. ``And it [annoys] me how people who have legitimate complaints won't bring those complaints forward. I don't understand why they don't trust us.''

Why should they? Trust has to be earned. Hire investigators, send them into the community and gather evidence. Don't just wait for it to walk in the door. Prove you are willing to fight on the public's behalf, even if it means battling the police chief or another CIP member.

Right now the panel seems meek and passive. For example, after asking members of the public to furnish them with video from the FTAA, CIP members seemed surprised to learn Thursday that the Miami Police Department had its own video crews taping the day's events.

When CIP member Janet McAliley, asked if CIP staff had requested that material, the panel's executive director, Shirley Richardson, said she had asked for it several weeks ago, but the police hadn't responded. The police department's inattentiveness is troubling, but the fact that Richardson, a former city employee, didn't bring the matter to the board's attention is even worse.

If the CIP can't make the police take them seriously, why should the public? It's time for this panel, as the kids like to say, to ``cowboy up.''

After the meeting, Handfield promised the CIP would issue subpoenas for the material.

Well, yippee-kie-yaaay.

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