Florida Legislature is close to declaring a winner in Miami-Dade’s sheriff war
Miami-Dade’s mayor would lose control of county police under a bill in the Legislature that bolsters the powers of the new sheriff up for election next year.
Legislation nearing floor votes in the House and Senate would block the bulk of the plan Miami-Dade’s mayor had to keep most of the existing police force under county control after a sheriff takes office in early 2025.
READ MORE: A new sheriff is coming, but Miami-Dade County won’t turn over its police force
Though the elected office hasn’t existed in Miami-Dade since the 1960s, the county will have an independent sheriff as part of a state-mandated expansion of constitutional offices approved by Florida voters in 2018.
Last year, county commissioners approved a plan by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to continue the current arrangement of the mayor overseeing most of the 4,500-person Miami-Dade County Police Department.
“I’m supporting the resolution passed by the commission to preserve county policing,” Levine Cava said Tuesday. Currently, she’s the only county mayor in Florida who also holds the powers of sheriff, overseeing Miami-Dade police.
The Levine Cava plan relies on Miami-Dade being able to maintain policing authority outside city limits once a sheriff takes over, in the same way Tampa, Orlando and other municipalities already operate their own police departments under an elected sheriff.
The Florida Sheriffs Association tried to block Miami-Dade’s plan in court, claiming state law doesn’t let counties treat unincorporated areas as massive cities with independent police departments.
Companion bills up for their final hearings Wednesday in the Florida House and Senate (HB 1595 and SB 1588) would wipe out that legal gray area, declaring a sheriff the sole provider of police services in a county’s unincorporated areas.
If the bills become law, the result would be a new sheriff essentially taking over the entire Miami-Dade Police Department after the elections, said Bob Gualtieri, the Pinellas County sheriff who has been leading the association’s fight against the county plan.
“All the functions of the Miami-Dade Police Department should go to the sheriff,” Gualtieri said of the legislation in an interview Tuesday. “The county doesn’t keep anything.”
The legislation allows Miami-Dade’s school system to maintain its own police force, but so far sponsors have rejected a request to let the county maintain a small police force for county facilities and security.
As written, the legislation means commissioners and the mayor would lose authority over the county police officers assigned to them as sergeant-at-arms to provide security and drive them to county events.
“We’re all scared of change,” said Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin, a bill sponsor and a Republican who represents part of the Kendall area in unincorporated Miami-Dade. “But the people approved this.”
Levine Cava, a Democrat, has been in Tallahassee trying to water down or block the bill, and recent amendments reflect her calls for the sheriff to continue existing financial arrangements for several years, such as using the county’s contracting system and keeping Miami-Dade health insurance for former MDPD employees.
“I want to assure continuity for our workers,” she said.
