Miami’s police oversight board attorney resigns; will collect $143K

Miami Herald ^ | 4/21/15 | David Smiley

[SoFloFreeper]

The embattled attorney for the civilian agency that oversees Miami’s police department has resigned, and he’s leaving with a six-figure sendoff.

....The city-funded agency will pay him $142,582 over the next six months, and in return Mays has agreed not to sue. He leaves following months of racially tinged rancor that split the agency’s 13-member board, pitted Mays against the agency’s executive director, and led to an inquiry into whether the long-serving attorney had usurped authority and stonewalled.....

[SoFloFreeper]

Free money for promising not to sue.

[Neidermeyer]

I don’t know the details of this case but when it was created the civilian oversight committee was SORELY needed in Miami, murder and corruption defined metro dade police then.

[Sooth2222]

"Voters overwhelmingly approved the creation of the civilian agency in 2001 following a series of fatal police shootings of black men and the indictment of 13 cops accused of covering up problematic shootings by planting “throw-down” guns on suspects. Four years later, Mays, a former assistant Miami city attorney who played a role in the negotiation of the controversial $7 million fire fee settlement of the late 2000s, was hired as the agency’s general counsel.

[Fester Chugabrew]

$143K sounds like a lot, but in Miami it won’t go far.

Generally speaking, is there civilian oversight of the legal community in all 50 States? What recourse or methods does the public have to audit the credentials of lawyers and judges in order to determine whether they are legally qualified to practice law? Do we simply trust the framed credentials hanging on their walls? The States have boards in place to monitor who is, and who is not, admitted to the bar. Who holds *them* in check to see to it they do not fall short in their responsibility to admit only those who meet the ethical and practical criteria that redound to lawful order?

[logi_cal869]

Generally speaking, is there civilian oversight of the legal community in all 50 States?

The answer, in this State, appears a definitive 'No'.

Oregon State Bar, Board of Governors

Judicial Review Board, Commission on Judicial Fitness