CARRY

police chiefs in the county to notify them of his new policy. He pointed out that according to state law he and other tax collector employees are considered “revenue officers” and therefore exempt from Florida’s ban on the open carry of firearms while performing their duties.

Greenberg was elected in 2016 after promising to “modernize” Seminole’s tax collector’s office.

Today, only four employees openly carry firearms because they provide security at branch offices, according to Greenberg. He added that he himself no longer openly carries a firearm, because it’s uncomfortable.

“We’re not a paramilitary force here,” he said. “We’re not trying to be police officers. ….And I’m not walking around town with a sixshooter on my hip.”

Greenberg pointed out that since the late 19th century Florida has considered tax collectors as “revenue officers.” He also pointed out that the Governor’s Sterling Award specifically identifies tax collectors as “chief revenue officers.”

Archer asked Bondi to opine on the issues in 2017 after prosecutors said Greenberg turned on white flashing lights on his dark SUV and followed a Sanford woman to the front of her subdivision to tell her to stop speeding while he wore his office badge.

A chief assistant state attorney for Archer’s office wrote in a report that Greenberg didn’t break any laws. Even though Greenberg’s badge “certainly resembles” a law officer’s badge, the report said, his actions did not rise to the level of him pretending to be a law-enforcement officer.

Mussetto said Archer’s office had already decided that Greenberg did not act inappropriately.

“Because you have already determined that the letter of the criminal statutes you enforce has not been violated by the behavior exhibited by the tax collector,” Mussetto wrote to Archer, “this office must decline to address your question regarding the authority of the tax collector to issue such badges to himself and to his staff, and to wear such badges when not engaged in official duties.”

It’s unclear why Bondi’s office decided to issue an opinion nearly a year after Archer’s request.