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Family outraged after North Miami Beach Police use criminal photos as #HumanTargets. VIDEO: http:\/\/on.nbc6.com\/0mqG5F1<\/p><\/div>\n
by Andrew Mach 1-17-15<\/em><\/p>\n While North Miami Beach Police Chief J. Scott Dennis launched an internal investigation into the program in late December, it wasn\u2019t until Friday after swelling public outcry that he formally halted the program.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI immediately<\/em> suspended the sniper training program as we conduct a thorough review of our training process and materials, ordered commercially produced training images, and opened an investigation into the matter,\u201d Dennis said in a statement.<\/p>\n But Dennis said that\u00a0none of the department\u2019s policies were violated and that no disciplinary action will be taken.<\/p>\n He also said the grid of 22 target photos also included images of whites, Hispanics and even Osama bin Laden.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll have six pictures of people who will look very similar,\u201d Dennis told NBC Miami<\/a>. \u201cWe have an array for black males, we have an array of white and Hispanic males. And the purpose for this is to be able that they can have the sniper identify a particular individual that they\u2019re given a small picture of and looking down range at this array of six to be able to pick the proper target out based on what was presented to them in intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid a climate of strained relationships between police and minority communities across the country, Dennis released on Friday a\u00a022-point memo<\/a>\u00a0with facts about the sniper program, in which he insisted the training was not racially motivated.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was not a race issue,\u201d the memo said. \u201cThere was no mal-intent or prejudice involved. The same target inventory has been used for more than a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police in North Miami have suspended a sniper training program after it was revealed that trainees used old mugshots of black suspects during target practice. The pictures, which featured inmates who had been arrested more than a decade ago, were … Continue reading