After hours of testimony from demonstrators and police, reports from demonstrators and police and submissions of complaints, video tapes and media reports on the clashes between some protesters and police during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit on November 20 and November 21 – the verdict is in from the Citizens Investigative Panel that oversees the Miami Police Department: we don’t want to do this anymore.

Monday, March 1 at 5 p.m. is scheduled to be the last FTAA-related hearing by the CIP.  After that, says the board, they would like to move on to other police-related cases. As CIP member Thomas Rebull put it: “Someone who filed a complaint a year ago shouldn’t have to wait behind an FTAA complaint.”

The CIP was created last year in reaction to a series of alleged police abuses in Miami – paramount among them were reports that Miami police were doctoring crime scenes after shootings. According to a 2002 press report, the City of Miami had settled $5 million worth of cases that alleged police abuse. When it was created, the CIP was the first such entity in the state entrusted with subpoena power. It was the fifth such board in the entire nation.

Activists who claim that police assaulted anyone who looked like a demonstrator during the FTAA meetings were not impressed. At least one activist advocacy group advised demonstrators, many of whom were from out-of-state, not to file a complaint with the CIP or the Miami Police Department. Instead they advised them to provide information to their legal team so they could formulate a killer lawsuit. A few lawsuits have already been filed. Many more are expected.

But, in a way, you really can’t blame the CIP for its reluctance to take this any further. The events that occurred on November 20 and November 21 dealt with more than just the Miami Police Department. They involved dozens of other law enforcement agencies that, if it weren’t for the fact that they were being overseen (technically at least) by Miami Police Chief John Timoney, would not have come under the CIP’s jurisdiction at all.  This was among the reasons why the convening of an independent body, one preferably appointed by the courts or the Department of Justice, was advocated by the SunPost. The events surrounding the FTAA are just too big in scope for the CIP.

Granted, another oversight panel, the Independent Review Board (IRP), which examines complaints against Miami-Dade officers and employees, is still holding hearings on the FTAA and shows no signs of slowing down. “We are not going to stop until we can stop,” said Eduardo Diaz, executive director of the IRP. But, once again, the IRP’s jurisdiction is limited to the Miami-Dade Police Department. And the IRP, no matter how determined it is to get at the truth, does not have subpoena power.

So there probably won’t be any further investigations by the CIP regarding the FTAA.  There might be a few remarks condemning the lack of identifying badges on body armored officers (as acknowledged in the MPD’s after action report) or other actions, but not much else. But there won’t be a truly impartial and exhaustive report on just what sparked the mass arrests on November 20 and November 21. The demonstrators appear content to take Miami to court. The police have pretty much said everything they appear willing to say.

And so the FTAA inquiry winds down…. Ending with a whimper.