Florida sheriffs suing over Miami-Dade County plan to keep mayor in charge of police
The Florida Sheriffs Association is suing to block a Miami-Dade County plan to keep the mayor in charge of county police after voters elect an independent sheriff in 2024 for the first time in 60 years.
The Circuit Court litigation sets off a promised legal battle by the sheriffs group ahead of Miami-Dade implementing a state requirement to join the other Florida counties in electing an independent sheriff. The current system grants sheriff powers to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, and earlier this year she backed legislation to retain control over most of the county’s police spending and resources after 2024.
Other sheriffs across Florida spoke against Miami-Dade’s plan to limit the new sheriff to duties explicitly detailed in state law, such as serving warrants. The legislation approved in June requires the Miami-Dade Police Department to remain under the mayor’s authority and continue providing patrol services outside city limits and retain homicide detectives, bomb squads and other specialized law enforcement divisions.
“The Board of County Commissioner’s action is a constitutional violation that must be remedied,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “It is disappointing that it has come to this, but illegal actions have consequences.”
Levine Cava said the county legislation complies with Florida law and called the suit a bid to block the Board of County Commissioners and her from planning for the arrival of a sheriff.
“This lawsuit is a premature effort to intimidate Miami-Dade County in our efforts to find the best path forward to keep all our residents safe and protected under our charter,” Levine Cava said in a statement Wednesday. “The law is clear, and that is the framework being used by the BCC and my administration to deliver a smooth transition once a sheriff is elected in 2024.”
Gualtieri, who is chair of the legislative committee at the sheriffs association, had warned that a lawsuit was coming as commissioners prepared to pass the legislation earlier this year.
The dispute centers on Miami-Dade’s ability to retain its own police force outside of city limits once a sheriff takes over after the 2024 elections. Florida law allows cities to have their own police departments within municipal limits, with a sheriff given countywide authority.
Miami-Dade currently provides police services outside of city limits for about 40% of the county’s homes in a taxing district known as the Unincorporated Municipal Services Area (UMSA). The county plan would create a municipal police force to continue to serve UMSA, with its own homicide detectives and other specialized police services.
The lawsuit says Florida’s Constitution gives a sheriff exclusive authority to provide police services outside of city limits, and that Miami-Dade’s plan would illegally create a costly overlap between the proposed municipal force and the one a new sheriff would run.
“By maintaining a dual and competing police department, namely MDPD, the financial redundancy and extensive dual expenses will inherently interfere with the Sheriff’s ability to obtain adequate funding from the County, thus impeding the Sheriff’s ability to carry out his/her constitutional responsibilities,” the lawsuit said.
Voters eliminated the independent sheriff in the 1960s in what was then Dade County after a string of corruption scandals. The county charter assigns sheriff powers to the elected mayor.
A constitutional amendment that Florida voters passed in 2018 requires all counties to elect not only a sheriff, but also an elections supervisor and tax collector — two jobs that also fall under Levine Cava’s current authority.
This story was originally published August 10, 2022 at 2:03 PM.