Judge says fight over Dade sheriff must wait until after ’24 election
The constitutional fight over a future Miami-Dade County sheriff’s powers will have to wait, a judge ruled last week in a lawsuit brought against the county by the Florida Sheriffs Association.
In June, Miami-Dade commissioners voted to keep most of the county’s police force under the mayor’s authority ahead of a new Florida mandate to elect an independent sheriff in 2024. The sheriffs group sued, claiming the plan violated the powers assigned county sheriffs under the state Constitution.
Miami-Dade is the only Florida county where the mayor holds the powers of sheriff, an arrangement coming to an end after Florida voters approved an amendment in 2018 requiring independent offices for sheriff, elections supervisor and tax collector.
In a ruling released Thursday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Vivianne Del Rio said any legal challenge needs to wait until after the 2024 elections when any sheriff plan becomes reality.
“The county has not transferred away any of the future sheriff’s powers,” Del Rio wrote in the Feb. 8 decision, noting there is not an elected sheriff to be the alleged victim of a county power grab. “When there is such a sheriff, and when this case becomes ripe, that sheriff can bring this action if he or she wishes.”
The dispute centers on Miami-Dade’s ability to retain its own police force outside of city limits once a sheriff takes over in 2025. 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 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.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the association leader who has taken the lead in the MiamiDade dispute, said Thursday the court case may continue.
“We have not had a chance to analyze the order,” he said. “We will do so and consider the options, but an appeal is on the table.”