Sep 6, 2007 11:58 am US/Eastern
City Mgr To Punish Embattled Miami Police Chief
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Miami's embattled top cop, Chief John Timoney, could face punishment from the City Manager as early as next week in the scandal surrounding Timoney's use of a free luxury Lexus SUV, which was exposed in a CBS4 news investigation.
Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez told
CBS4'S Gary Nelson that he will not wait for the results of a Miami-Dade Ethics Commission investigation before punishing Chief Timoney.
Hernandez told Nelson on Thursday morning, "It's something the Chief admitted. It was a horrible error in judgment. The police department is held to a higher standard, all officers are, and that applies also to the Chief of Police."
Miami City Commissioner Tomas Regalado said he agrees with the City Manager's decision despite support for TImoney coming from Mayor Manny Diaz.
Regalado told CBS4'S Gary Nelson that Timoney needs to be disciplined.
"The manager is doing the right thing, regardless of the support of some community leaders, what he did has consequences and he needs to be disciplined and that's the bottom line."
City Manager Hernandez says that he has not yet determined what the discipline will be but that it will be meted out no later than early next week.
The City Manager's decision to discipline Chief Timoney comes after rank and file members of the Miami Police Department overwhelmingly approved a vote of no confidence in their chief earlier this week.
More than 500 officers voted against Timoney.
The former head of Miami Police has also asked for an investigation. Former Miami Police Chief Kenneth Harms, who served in the department for twenty-six years, filed a sworn complaint with the State Ethics Commission, over his free use of the Luxury Lexus SUV.
Harms complaint to the state accuses Chief Timoney of violating multiple provisions of Florida law governing acceptance of gifts by public officials.
Timoney acknowledged that he accepted free use of the Lexus for more than a year, after the CBS4 investigation proved he could not be paying for the car as he first claimed.
The complaint to the State Ethics Commission follows a Miami-Dade Ethics Commission probe already underway.
County ethics officials are very limited in the punishment they may impose for ethics violations and their actions are largely symbolic.
The State Ethics Commission, however, can potentially assess fines of tens of thousands of dollars and even order suspension or removal from office.
Click Here for the Florida Commission on Ethics Complaint Process The Florida Department of Revenue has also opened an "inquiry" into Timoney's free use of the luxury SUV.
In the wake of Timoney's trouble over the fee-free car deal, the Chief came under further attack from the Miami Fraternal Order of Police which has accused Timoney of permitting crime statistics to be altered to reflect a lower crime rate.
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