Miami Police Department

The Miami Police Department (MPD), also known as the City of Miami Police Department, is a full-service municipal law enforcement agency serving Miami, Florida. MPD is the largest municipal police department in Florida. MPD officers are distinguishable from their Miami-Dade Police Department counterparts by their blue uniforms and blue-and-white patrol vehicles. MPD operates the Miami Police College, which houses three schools: The Police Academy Class (PAC), The School for Professional Development (SPD), and the International Policing Institute (IPI), a program focused on training law enforcement personnel from countries outside of the United States. History In its early years, the MPD enacted an oppressive racial system in Miami. The MPD did not protect the black community from violence, as well as aided in the harassment and terrorization of the black population. The MPD intimidated black voters, pursued blacks on flimsy evidence, and strongly enforced certain laws solely when blacks were in violation of them. The MPD tacitly approved of or failed to investigate instances of white supremacist violence in Miami by terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. In 1986 reporting on corruption scandals in the MPD, the New York Times wrote of the MPD that "corruption charges are not new" to the department. In 2018, the Miami New Times wrote, "Miami cops have a storied history of getting caught committing the very crimes they are supposed to police."