'I back the Black': Rift as Florida proposes banning anonymous complaints about cops

A proposal that would lift the anonymity of people filing complaints against a law enforcement officers advanced in a Florida House committee on Thursday, even though key players in Florida law enforcement are divided about whether the legislation is truly “Backing the Blue.”

The proposal sponsored by Miami-Dade Republican Tom Fabricio (HB 317) would require a person who initially files an anonymous complaint about a law or corrections officer in the state to have to give up his or her anonymity before any interrogation of that officer can commence.

Both the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association oppose the bill.

“It will not increase accountability,” said Tampa International Airport Police Department Chief Charlie Vasquez, who is serving as president of the Florida Police Chiefs Association. “It will make it more difficult to hold officers accountable when they have serious misconduct.”

But other parts of the law enforcement community do support the measure, such as the Florida Fraternal Order of Police.

A member of that organization, Miami Police officer Felix Del Rosario, said the proposal is about fairness, integrity, “and the protection of those who dedicate their lives to public service.”

Del Rosario added that, for too long, police officers in Florida have been subjected to “prolonged and ambiguous investigations.”

“This legislation helps address those inequities,” he said, “by ensuring that officers have timely access to their complete investigative file, providing safeguards against unfounded and malicious allegations that can have long lasting affects on an officers’ reputation, career, and upholding the principals of.due process and equal treatment under the law.”

‘I also back the Black’

Orange County Democratic Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis noted how the Legislature last year effectively eliminated civilian review boards designed to oversee certain local law enforcement, which was supported by the sheriffs and police chiefs, so why wouldn’t they support those agencies on this piece of legislation?

“I feel like I’m in an alternate universe right now because I hear from this chamber, from this committee, often times that we need to ‘Back the Blue.’ And the Blue just spoke. What I wrote down from the police chief is that this bill will make it more difficult to hold officers accountable when they participate in misconduct,” she said.

And Bracy Davis, who is Black, said she was speaking as a representative of a minority-majority district with constituents who in some cases “have apprehension when it comes to dealing with police officers.”

“So, not only do I ‘Back the Blue’, but I also back the Black, and I back the Brown.”

Rep. Bruce Antone, who also is Black, said he opposed the bill which, ultimately would repeal anonymity for a complainant once law enforcement begins interrogating the accused officer. Antone listed three separate occasions when he was harassed by law enforcement.

South Florida Democratic Rep. Mike Gottlieb said he disagreed with the notion that if he opposed the bill he somehow was not ‘Backing the Blue.’

“We have many masters, and in a bill like this we have the administration, we have the rank and file, the law enforcement officers who are on the street fighting day and day out to protect the society, and we have the citizens, and each one of us represents approximately 175,000 individuals,” he said. “And to come here and tell us that if we vote no on this product we don’t ‘Back the Blue?’ That’s just not true.”

‘You put your face on it’

But Republicans on the committee said that while the administrators and lobbyists for Florida’s top law enforcement agencies oppose the bill, actual cops on the street support it, and that should be good enough.

“All we’re saying is, if you have a complaint against someone, just like if you’re going to accuse someone in a court of law, put your face on it,” said Hillsborough County GOP Rep. Danny Alvarez, whose job outside of the Legislature is general counsel for the Tampa Police Benevolent Association. “And if you can’t put your face and name on it, then it’s not worthy of going forward and smearing this person for the rest of their career.”

Alvarez added that the bill was “for the cop, not the sergeant, not the captain, and not the chief.”

Last week, when the bill was heard in the House Government Operations Subcommittee, Jennifer “Cookie” Pritt, executive director of Florida Police Chiefs Association, gave highly personal testimony regarding an incident involving a herself and a high-ranking command officer as a real life example of why she opposed the bill. She chose not to comment publicly on the measure on Thursday.

Ultimately, the House Judiciary Committee voted 16-4 to advance the bill, and it now moves to the full House for consideration. But it may not end up becoming law this year, as its Senate companion (SB 516) has yet to be heard in any committee in that chamber.