South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Auditor suggests airport create own police force
Management at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport should study whether it makes sense to create its own police department, according to a newly released county audit that examined the Broward Sheriff ’s Office’s service at the airport.
The audit, completed this month by the Office of County Auditor Bob Melton, broached looking into the idea as a potential best business practice — to ensure the airport is receiving the best services and prices.
The audit set out “to evaluate the reasonableness and appropriateness of payments made to Broward Sheriff ’s Office” for law enforcement services at the airport. Among the audit’s findings:
■ When compared to other surveyed airports, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood has the highest budgeted cost of law enforcement services per passenger boarding a plane at an airport.
■ Confiscated property and money at the airport “are not properly disclosed and provided.”
■ There are not proper internal controls to track deputies’ use of gas for their cars.
Overall, the audit made some positive findings: Payments made to the Sheriff ’s Office for law enforcement services at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport “are reasonable and appropriate.”
For fiscal year 2023, which runs from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023, the Broward County Aviation Department paid the Sheriff ’s Office about $29 million for 123 positions.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International is considered a “large hub airport” that services more than 700 flights a day. During fiscal year 2023, about 17.1 million passengers boarded planes at the airport.
But the audit said there were still concerns and “opportunities for improvement.”
Creating a new police force
The audit noted “a competitive approach for obtaining law enforcement services for the FLL Airport” hadn’t been sought since the agreement began in 1996.
“Good business practices require procurement of services at competitive prices, as well as terms and conditions being the best fit for business operations,” Melton wrote. That could mean “improvements, not only from a financial standpoint, but in quality of service and relationships between the parties. Failure to seek a competitive approach may disincentivize (the Broward Sheriff ’s Office) from being responsive to the FLL Airport’s needs.”
While Broward County can legally establish its own law enforcement for the airport, it is not allowed by state law to contract with any other police department to provide any services provided by the sheriff, according to the audit.
And while the majority of the airport is located in unincorporated Broward, there are small portions situated within neighboring Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach.
When the airport expanded in 1997, the county, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood each enacted ordinances that required the county to maintain an agreement with the Sheriff ’s Office for law enforcement services. Those orders are scheduled to expire March 31, 2034. But as long as the parties agree, the rules can be amended to make the change before then.
“We recommend management perform an in-depth analysis of quantitative and qualitative operational factors to evaluate the feasibility of creating its own police force,” according to the audit.
In a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office said it’s in the process of examining the audit.
The agency “is aware of the Broward County audit and is currently reviewing it,” the Sheriff ’s Office said. “BSO is proud to provide public safety services at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and looks forward to continuing our partnership with the Broward County Aviation Department.”
The Sheriff ’s Office did not comment about the audit’s recommendation for the county to consider a new airport force.
The airport’s administration also declined to comment “as the Board of County Commissioners has not yet had an opportunity to officially review and take action on” the suggestion, according to an airport spokeswoman, adding that it would be “premature and inappropriate” to comment.
Seizures ‘not properly disclosed’
The audit concluded that confiscated property and money at the airport “are not properly disclosed and provided” to the county. Based on the sheriff’s finance department figures, “we noted that the portion of awards from confiscations allocated to BSO Airport District totals approximately $810,000 from 2010 through August 30, 2023.”
And, the audit said, there was no verification by airport management “to ensure that the FLL Airport’s share of confiscated funds was adequately allocated and earmarked for the FLL Airport when deposited, and whether these funds were used by the Sheriff within the FLL Airport.”
The audit recommended airport management “require BSO to submit adequate reports regarding BSO confiscations at the FLL Airport as required in the agreement.”
‘Staffing requirement is not being met’
Actual hours of service for the Airport Safety Officer positions provided by the Sheriff’s Office were less than the budgeted positions by four to five fulltime employees during the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, the audit said. “Therefore, the minimum staffing requirement is not being met as required by the agreement.”
The minimum required number of staff for the Airport Safety Officer position is 20.
The audit notes that the Sheriff’s Office is among the many law enforcement agencies across the United States facing the challenge of recruiting staff.
Seeking more documentation
The audit also said the Sheriff’s Office “does not consistently provide adequate documentation and justification to support budgets.” The audit found that adequate documentation “would explain the nature of expenses in these accounts and show how amounts were determined.”
The Broward County Aviation Department paid the Sheriff ’s Office about $2 million per year during a two-year period starting fiscal year 2021 “for services which were based on estimated budget amounts established as part of BSO-wide allocations without a reconciliation to actual costs incurred. However, after our numerous requests during the audit, BSO was unable to provide documentation demonstrating the actual costs for these accounts.
“Therefore, we were unable to verify the actual costs of these expenses, and the accuracy of the amounts paid to BSO.”
Airport ‘could have saved approximately $540,000’
Sheriff ’s Office employees’ payments for some benefits including retirement were paid from the airport’s budget, “even if the employees only spent a small portion of their tenure with BSO at the FLL Airport,” the audit said. “If the percentages of actual time at the FLL Airport and other district assignments were appropriately allocated to these payments, the FLL Airport could have saved approximately $540,000 during the periods we reviewed.”
Keeping better track of gas
The audit also examined the use of gas by deputies assigned to the airport and found “data anomalies” in reports.
The Sheriff ’s Office “does not have adequate internal controls to monitor fuel usage by BSO employees to ensure that fuel costs charged to the FLL Airport are accurate,” according to the audit, since “other than the cameras located by in-house pumps, there are no physical controls in place to prevent and monitor whether the fuel obtained by a BSO employee is for a BSO vehicle only.”
Internal control over fuel for cars “should be enhanced to ensure fuel costs are paid for legitimate purposes and supported by accurate and complete documentation.”