A Florida Police Chief has stepped down from his position amid claims of racial profiling from the NAACP.
Miami Gardens police chief Matthew Boyd resigned on Thursday, just two days after NAACP officials accused the Florida law enforcement department of carrying out "the most pervasive, most invasive and most unjustified pattern of police harassment in the nation."
Boyd and his team have been accused of singling out particular customers and employees at various convenience stores as part of a "zero tolerance" push that aimed to scale back on crime by targeting citizens who seemed suspicious, the Miami New Times reported. One employee who participated in the program was famously arrested 419 for trespassing during a five-year period, city records show. The owner of the store, Alex Saleh, started questioning the validity of the program, and installed 15 undercover cameras that recorded police officer's actions. The Miami Herald publicized a some of the tapes in November, which showed law enforcement officials performing illegal searches and pushing elderly customers around.
Boyd defended his team at the time, saying that the state of Florida's high rate of crime warranted such a strict policy.
The NAACP is now calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to probe the incidents and legislation further.
"Absent federal oversight, and intervention, the NAACP has no confidence that the Miami Gardens Police Department or other city officials will willingly conduct a complete and impartial investigation," the group wrote in a statement.
The MGPD is also reportedly conducting a separate investigation of its internal affairs, the New Times reported.
"We're going to be very transparent in our process," interim Chief Paul Miller said last night.
Miller didn't offer more details on Boyd's resignation.
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