March 23, 2011 3:02PM # Police Shootings in Miami By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) --- SHARE Today’s *New York Times* reports that seven African-American men have been [shot and killed](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/us/23miami.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper) by Miami police officers over an eight month period. One officer, who has since been discharged for unrelated misconduct, was responsible for two of the shooting incidents over a span of just days. Each shooting should be scrutinized on its own merits. The circumstances of each incident matters. However, one question concerns the aggressive culture often found in police “tactical” units, which too often enagage in a reckless style of police work. Since 2009, the *Times* reports, more than 100 officers have been added to Miami’s tactical units. Another question is whether the Miami police department should be the agency investigating these cases. An *impartial* investigation into these shootings needs to be conducted. Go [here](https://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-056es.html) for related Cato work. ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).