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Miami police-chief hopefuls all say the right thing, but which one can Black residents trust to do it?

The Miami Police Department, long plagued with accusations of indiscriminate use of excessive and deadly force on residents — and Black residents, in particular — is all fixed now, folks.

That’s the message the U.S. Department of Justice sent this month when it confirmed it was ending five years of oversight of the 1,800-member Miami police force, a babysitting mission sparked by a federal investigation into almost three dozen police shootings in the past decade. The DOJ monitor determined that Miami’s police department now is in compliance and respects the civil rights of all citizens.

Ironically, the end of the DOJ oversight was announced on the same day Miami police shot and killed a white suspect and a week before it allowed back into its ranks a notorious captain and former union leader, Javier Ortiz, whose controversial career as an officer has been marred by accusations of excessive force.

“I have mixed feelings about the oversight being lifted,” Melba V. Pearson, director of Policy & Programs at the Center for the Administration of Justice at FIU told the Editorial Board. “While I am pleased that DOJ has determined that Miami Police is in compliance, I do not believe all the community concerns have been addressed. … While there have not been any recent fatal encounters, there are still concerns about excessive force being used when it is not necessary.”

Colina retiring

While the public should remain skeptical, the development surely will make life easier for Miami’s next police chief, who will be named in a couple of weeks.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the Editorial Board that he’s excited about where the department is now headed. Chief Jorge Colina is retiring, having led the department during three difficult years for policing across America.

“I think Chief Colina has set the stage nicely for our new police chief and a return to more compassionate policing,” Suarez told the Board. We’re counting on it.

The department touts a 12 percent decrease in the use of force and a reduction in violent crimes not seen since the 1950s. That’s a solid first step and, overall, the department has made progress in reforming its ranks. That’s before and after community outcry over policing of Black communities in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police — a tragedy that resonated across the country, including Miami.

There are other forces at work to overhaul policing in Florida.

Last week, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced she is pushing legislation to require police officers statewide to undergo “de-escalation and implicit bias” training and also require that fellow officers intervene if a fellow cop is using excessive force. This legislation is crucial to making sure this community and state never see anything like George Floyd’s death by a police officer, never see other officers stand there gawking while a colleague squeezes, beats or chokes the life out of an already-subdued suspect.

We commend Democrat Miami-Dade Rep. Nick Duran for filing the bill in the House, and Sens. Jason Pizzo and Ana Maria Rodriguez — a Democrat and Republican, respectively — for sponsoring it in the Senate.

Rundle’s vision is worthy of bipartisan support, providing a better way to protect community members and officers themselves.

Eight hopefuls

The announcement that DOJ oversight is ending comes at a pivotal time for the department. Eight finalists are currently vying to become the next Miami police chief. Five are current Miami police department employees; three are external candidates; of the candidates, two are Black and one is a woman: Cherise Gause, who is the first Haitian-American female assistant chief in the department’s history.

City Manager Art Noriega, who will make the final decision, told the Board what he’s looking for in the city’s next top cop:

“The city needs a police chief that, first and foremost, possesses very strong leadership skills and also a very good working knowledge of how law enforcement has evolved in recent months, and a chief who understands the importance of community policing.”

We will take him at his word, but he’ll have to dig deeper than that with the job candidates as he narrows the field. We want to know more than their vision. We want to know what each has done so far to smooth relations with Black communities, how they have changed a police department’s culture of racism and aggression, whether they think Black lives matter; what policies they will set for when to shoot and when to de-ecalate; how officers will confront suspects with mental illness. We understand police officers’ jobs are fraught with risk. We also understand, however, that in so many situations, they have the upper hand, the badge, the gun — none of which should be abused or exploited.

There are some other non-negotiables: The new chief must be able to skillfully navigate the city of Miami’s deplorable heavy-handed politics; must have the respect of the rank and file — otherwise, it will be impossible to be the leader the department and the city need; must be committed to implicit bias and cultural sensitivity training, no matter what happens to Fernandez Rundle’s proposal.

Candidates’ views

In addition to Gause, police chief candidates include: Miami Assistant Chief Armando Aguilar; Major Francisco Fernandez; Assistant Chief of Operations Manuel Morales; Deputy Chief Ron Papier; Chief Inspector of Philadelphia Police DeShawn Beaufort; Commander of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Jason Lando; and retired deputy chief of the New York City Police Department, Raul Pintos.

Watching their video interviews in front of the city’s selection committee offered a glimpse of what the candidates think the Miami Police department should look like in the future.

Community policing, de-escalation training, accountability and transparency are current professional buzz words, and most of the candidates touched on each crucial subject.

More important, the selection committee, Noriega and the candidates themselves must by fully committed to creating a Miami police that will regain the community’s trust — with or without DOJ oversight. They must embrace a new day in policing.

Period.