#Florida undercover police cars windows

As for repairs and upkeep, that’s usually done at a law enforcement agency’s maintenance center during an officer’s duty hours. Those who live outside the county chip in $35 per pay period. For example, the collective bargaining contract at PBSO says that deputies who live in Palm Beach County and have an assigned vehicle must have a $30 payroll deduction each pay period for fuel. Some departments have fuel cards, others garnish wages. In so far as tax dollars pay for a lot of things police and firefighters do, sure, you’re covering the fuel costs. Isaacs also asked how taxpayer dollars impact fuel and vehicle maintenance. MPD policy also has a list of punishments that can take place for violating assigned-vehicle policy, from a reprimand for a first violation all the way up to a recommendation of termination for a sixth offense. In Miami, for example, the collective bargaining contract states that if officers get into an accident in their vehicles that a review board finds could have been prevented, they lose their assigned vehicle.

(We didn’t hear back from the Miami-Dade County Police Department, and we’re still waiting on some information from the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the police departments of Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.)Īs to Isaacs’ specific question about how the privilege is regulated, that also varies between agencies. Little differences like that abound between various city and county law enforcement agencies whose policies we received.

#Florida undercover police cars windows

The MPD allows officers to tint car windows at their own expense PBSO’s policy makes no mention of this. The Miami Police Department’s policy on assigned vehicles says they can only go to officers who live in Miami-Dade or Broward counties, and that the vehicle can only be used for commuting or official business, not the off-duty use that PBSO allows, though the MPD’s collective bargaining contract allows for union members to use the vehicle while off duty within Miami city limits. The Boca Raton Police Department allows officers living in Palm Beach or Broward counties to have a take-home vehicle, though participation in the program isn’t mandatory, and according to the union contract, the department can charge fees to police officers who have a take-home car but don’t live within city limits.

We filed public records requests for both the contracts and department policy from seven of the largest law enforcement agencies in South Florida: the Palm Beach and Broward sheriff’s offices, and the police departments of Miami, Miami-Dade County, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. The use of take-home patrol vehicles is governed not just by department policy but by collective bargaining contracts with police unions. This question came to us from Uri Issacs, who asked, “Why do local law enforcement officers take their vehicles home with them, and how is the privilege regulated (i.e speeding, reckless driving, unofficial use)? How do our tax dollars impact this usage (i.e additional fuel and vehicle maintenance)?”

If you’ve ever seen a police car parked in a neighbor’s driveway and wondered under what circumstances cops can take home their black-and-whites (or in the case of county law enforcement, green-and-whites), you’re not the only one.Īs part of the Sun Sentinel’s Sound Off South Florida project, we answer reader-submitted questions on all sorts of questions about life and culture in South Florida.