I-Team

MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ― The President of the Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police says he's alarmed by what one officer recently discovered at the Internal Affairs offices at 6840 Indian Creek Drive. It was a secret recording system that was capable of spying on police officers.

According to a purchase order obtained by the CBS4 I-Team, the equipment was purchased for nearly $1700 in August of 2004. It had been in place for five years, until the current Police Chief, Carlos Noriega, ordered that it be dismantled.

"I did not agree with the philosophy to have a camera in that room, and I felt that the right move was to remove it as quickly as possible, then look into how that camera got there to begin with," Miami Beach Police Chief Carlos Noriega told CBS4's Gio Benitez.


CBS4 has agreed to not reveal where the camera was positioned inside one of the rooms, in order to protect the way police conduct their investigations. But the camera involved was a tiny one and is similar to one used in CBS4 I-Team investigations. It vividly captures the sites and sounds needed for investigations.

The police union said the camera was mounted inside a room used by internal affairs investigators. It was capable of capturing private meetings between cops being investigated and their attorneys.

"I'm extremely disappointed," said F.O.P. President Alex Bello. "I was obviously shocked to hear about some of the tactics that were embraced here."

Bello said the hidden camera was hooked to a monitor that was inside the office of internal affairs Captain James Hyde. In Bello's memo to 604 current and retired officers in this city, he said their Bill of Rights had been violated.

"We were under the understanding that Police had the right to privacy in that room," said Bello. "Our concern is that with those sessions, they are recording or monitoring them without making the information available."

Bello told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that the camera violated attorney-client priviledge and said the case could impact many cases during the five-year period. Bello also said the camera also compromised the integrity and impartiality of the internal affairs unit.

The camera was approved by former Police Chief Donald Delucca. He refused to go on camera, but he told CBS4, "I authorized the purchase to be used for investigative purposes only. I would have never used the equipment to monitor police officers without their knowledge. I never listened to or saw a tape during my tenure. I would have never authorized it to be used in that manner."

The wording on the purchase order says the equipment was needed because it was "necessary to conduct and monitor internal affairs interviews and investigations."

Police spokesman, detective Juan Sanchez, told us that when Chief Noriega learned about the camera recently, he ordered that it be removed. Sanchez said no conversation was ever recorded and that's what Chief Noriega has told Bello.

"It never recorded," said Sanchez. "It only meant to monitor the room and the purpose was mainly officer safety, and for training, and to make sure rights were being kept. The monitor was never meant to listen to attorneys and clients. That was never monitored."

"Whether they say it didn't record or it did," said Bello, "it's information that was withheld from officers that was the subject of Internal affairs cases."

Bello feels the camera showed what he called "malicious intent." He's met with a prosecutor and has asked her to see if any laws were broken by the internal affairs unit. Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office, told us the case is being reviewed. He said there was no timetable for when the review would be finished.

Bello said he also plans to speak with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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