Claiming to be on Homeland Security Detail, Miami-Dade police officer James Hanna found it suspicious that a St. Thomas University professor was taking photos in the university parking lot.
Hanna approached adjunct English professor Lamont Missick who was photographing a dent on his car and asked for his university ID.
Missick, who had just been hired, said he did not have university ID, but provided his driver license instead.
When Missick asked to see Hanna’s badge and name tag which were covered by a patrol jacket, “Hanna objected and threatened to take his camera,” according to the Independent Review Panel complaint, which discussed the matter during last week’s meeting.
During the confrontation that took place on Jan. 30, 2007, Hanna suggested that Missick could be a member of Al-Qaeda, according to the report.
He also demanded to know where Missick was born. Missick, a Miami native, was offended by these questions and comments.
“It was a very tense situation,” Missick said after last week’s meeting. “He was somewhat imposing and very aggressive.”
And to top things off, Hanna has never been on Homeland Security Detail, confirmed Miami-Dade Sergeant Jose Lugo, who attended last week’s meeting.
But Hanna went as far as confirming this allegation during the Internal Affairs investigation, in which he stated that he was “observing the gentleman taking pictures of a building, either dormitory or people, of students, and I thought about questioning him why he was taking the pictures since we are in Homeland Security.”
However, he denied the Al-Qaeda remark.
After the confrontation, Missick drove to a nearby precinct and showed officers Hanna’s picture until finally somebody recognized him. He then filed an Internal Affairs report alleging that Hanna refused to identify himself and that Hanna made offensive remarks to Missick, specifically the Al-Qaeda comment.
Not surprisingly, Internal Affairs decided both allegations were “not sustained”.
However, the Miami-Dade Independent Review Panel investigated the incident and “sustained” the first allegation; that Hanna refused to identify himself and had his badge covered by his jacket, which is evident in the above photo that Missick took.
But the review panel found “insufficient evidence to support or refute” the allegation that Hanna made offensive remarks to Missick.
To file a complaint with Miami Dade contact Major Donald Rifkiin
9690 Northwest 41st Street
Doral, FL 33178-1500 USA
Phone: 305-599-3550
Fax: 305-470-1629
Email: pcbinfo@mdpd.com
Major : Donald Rifkin
Site: http://www.miamidade.gov/mdpd/BureausDivisions/bureau_Profession…
