Miami DDA funds boost to downtown security after fatal stabbing, officials say
The changes come weeks after a 26-year-old man accessed the 37th floor of the Icon Brickell towers and fatally stabbed a 17-year-old boy while he slept.
In response, the Miami DDA has allocated grant money to fund overtime for city police officers patrolling Brickell, the central business district, and the arts and entertainment district.
The Miami City Commission recently voted to extend the grant program through the end of September.
"Any additional services that we can provide through our partners with the city of Miami Police Department, we are committed to providing those services," said Liliana Collazo, Head of Enhanced Services and Government Affairs for the DDA.
Residents express concern, welcome tech-driven approach
Icon Brickell resident George Simon said his wife now feels uneasy walking around the neighborhood.
"She didn't really think about walking over to Brickell City Centre in the early evening at all and being concerned. And now she's gotten a little concerned," Simon said.
Simon said he hopes building management improves security inside the property. He also supports the city's broader use of technology for public safety.
"That technology that's available today to allow them to pursue a suspect should they have one, it's important," Simon said.
More cameras, license plate readers and ambassadors planned
Along with added patrols, the DDA is supporting the installation of new security cameras, license plate readers, and the deployment of safety ambassadors, trained personnel who patrol on foot, assist residents, and report suspicious behavior.
"For the month of May they have reported 30 incidents to the City of Miami Police," Collazo said.
Currently, the downtown area has 40 security cameras, 8 license plate readers, and 24 ambassadors. The DDA is still finalizing the number and placement of additional surveillance tools. In April, the agency also funded a new drone for the Miami Police Department.
Christian Tang, who manages a Facebook group for Brickell and downtown residents, said the increased security presence has helped address community concerns in the wake of the Icon stabbing.
"You could say maybe like altogether like 50–55," Tang said, referring to the number of messages he received from residents worried about the incident.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
DC sues Trump over ‘hostile takeover' of city's police
Washington, D.C.'s attorney general is suing Donald Trump over executive actions asserting his control over the capital city's police department and the administration's attempts to install a new police chief and nullify laws approved by voters and enacted by city officials. Friday's lawsuit arrived hours after U.S. Attorney General Bondi expanded Trump's federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department by appointing an emergency police commissioner and suspending D.C. policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 'By declaring a hostile takeover of MPD, the administration is abusing its limited, temporary authority under the Home Rule Act, infringing on the district's right to self-governance and putting the safety of D.C. residents and visitors at risk,' D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement. The Trump administration's 'unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call D.C. home,' he added. 'This is the gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it,' Schwalb said. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to find the administration's actions unconstitutional and violations of the city's Home Rule Act. On Thursday night, as law enforcement cleared out homeless encampments and continued federal occupation of the capital city for a fourth night, Bondi ordered D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to recognize Terry Cole, who is the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as the city's 'emergency' police chief. She also ordered the immediate suspension of city policies limiting inquiries into immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. In response, Schwalb called the directives 'unlawful' and said police must 'continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the mayor, setting up what is likely to be a high-wire legal battle over on one of the most far-reaching extensions of federal power in the city's half-century of local control. On Monday, Trump invoked a never-before-used authority to seize control of the city's police department for at least 30 days as he deployed the National Guard and surged federal law enforcement officers to the streets. He declared what he called a 'crime emergency' to justify the move, saying his administration must 'rescue' the city from 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.' He claimed the city is overrun with 'bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,' though reports of violent crime in the city have plummeted, along with national downward trends of violent crime rates. This is a developing story
Wall Street Journal
30 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
‘Smoke and Mirrors' Review: A Magician, a Murder and a Mystery
First impressions often hide the full story in 'Smoke & Mirrors,' a debut mystery novel for middle-grade readers by Rosalyn Ransaw. Andy, our 12-year-old narrator, has been blamed for accidentally burning down a barn with a firecracker. The residents of the small Midwestern town where he is spending the summer readily accept this version of events, but the truth is more complicated. Andy has taken the fall because, as the only black kid in town, he thinks no one will believe him that a white boy was actually responsible for the damage. As punishment Andy must help the barn's owner, the cantankerous Mr. Gilbert, repair a dilapidated old house that once belonged to the Red Knave, a famous magician of the 1960s. The secretive masked performer used to stage magic shows on the property, drawing crowds eager to witness his illusions—until a man was murdered following one of his performances. Afterward, the Red Knave vanished. Though the police always suspected he was responsible for the death, no one ever cracked the case. Andy knows there must be more to the story. 'If there was one thing people were good at,' he thinks, 'it was assuming people were guilty because it was easier than doing the work of figuring out the truth.' He decides to investigate the decades-old murder, even if it means accepting the help of a local boy he is not entirely sure he trusts. 'Smoke & Mirrors' leans heavily on a classic whodunit setup as Andy and his sidekick work their way through a list of suspects and motives. Readers might crave more detail as the book builds toward its rapid-fire conclusion—a big reveal about the Red Knave's identity is glossed over far too quickly. Ms. Ransaw focuses instead on Andy's private, more nuanced motives for solving the mystery of the Red Knave: curiosity, yes, but also a keen sense of injustice. His father is in prison awaiting his parole hearing, and after Andy's own run-in with the police, he feels that no one is giving his family a fair chance. By solving the Red Knave case, Andy hopes he can get people to reconsider their first impressions—of the magician, and also of himself.
CBS News
30 minutes ago
- CBS News
D.C. sues Trump administration, Bondi over federal takeover of D.C. police
The District of Columbia sued the Trump administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi Friday for trying to end local directives that limit cooperation between D.C. police and federal immigration authorities during the Trump administration's takeover of the city's police force. The Trump administration's attempts to end the policies represents an effort "to divest the District and its residents of any control of their local police force and place it, for all purposes, under the control of the federal government," D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb wrote in a complaint. Bondi's order terminating the local directives came Thursday night and amounted to a sweeping reversal of "sanctuary" policies in the nation's capital. It allowed the Metropolitan Police Department, at least temporarily, to fully cooperate with federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration authorities. The attorney general said she was naming Terry Cole, the current head of the DEA, as emergency police chief in Washington. She cited Mr. Trump's emergency declaration to reverse several local police policies. The D.C. attorney general is asking a federal judge to vacate Bondi's order and declare that the U.S. attorney general lacks the authority to issue orders asserting "operational control" over the district's police department. "These unlawful assertions of authority will create immediate, devastating, and irreparable harms for the District. Most critically, the order threatens to upend the command structure of MPD and wreak operational havoc within the department, endangering the safety of the public and law enforcement officers alike," Schwalb wrote. "There is no greater risk to public safety in a large, professional law enforcement organization like MPD than to not know who is in command." Bondi rescinded guidance issued by D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith earlier Thursday that allowed police officers to transport ICE agents and their detainees and to share immigration information during traffic stops, but that still barred most local involvement in federal immigration enforcement. The attorney general also removed guidance that prohibited D.C. police officers from searching databases for the purposes of determining someone's immigration status, even when there's no underlying criminal warrant. She also suspended rules that barred D.C. police from arresting individuals based on administrative immigration warrants signed by ICE officials — not judges — and from assisting federal agents during such arrests. The rescinded policy required officers to have a criminal nexus before carrying out an arrest, prohibiting arrests solely based on suspected civil immigration law violations. Bondi's attempts to end the MPD policies clash with the District's 2020 laws that gave local police independent authority from immigration officials. In June, the D.C. Council voted down Mayor Muriel Bowser'e effort to repeal the sanctuary city status in a 2026 budget bill. CBS News has reached out to Bowser's office for comment. Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.
