Miami Beach Police Department

The Miami Beach Police Department is the police department of the U.S. city of Miami Beach, Florida, patrolling the entire Miami Beach area, although they sometimes cooperate with the county-wide Miami-Dade Police Department.

Miami Beach Police Department
AbbreviationMBPD
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionMiami Beach, Florida, USA
Map of Miami Beach Police Department's jurisdiction.
Size18.7 square miles (48 km2)
Population87,779 (2010)
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersMiami Beach, Florida
Agency executive
  • Rick Clements, Chief of Police
Districts3
Website
Miami Beach Police

The Miami Beach Police are famous for their bicycle patrols, which wear dark blue shorts and white short-sleeve uniform tops. The bicycle patrols were created due to the frequent traffic congestion of the Miami Beach isles (particularly in the famous Ocean Drive area on South Beach). Bicycle patrols go where patrol vehicles cannot, but they also perform traffic duties.[1] There are even some patrol officers on roller skates.

The Miami Beach Police wear dark blue trousers with dark blue shirts, and have red, white, and blue patrol vehicles however, the department is in the process of switching over to black and white patrol vehicles by the end of 2008. The current Chief of the Department is Chief Daniel Oates.[2]

Incidents

In recent years, the Miami Beach Police Department has come under scrutiny for their involvement in a series of questionable incidents. In 2009, two officers were accused of taunting and falsely arresting a gay man. In another incident, one of their officers was arrested on felony charges for a crash in an all-terrain vehicle, seriously injuring and hospitalizing two people. The arrested officer and a second officer had been drinking on-duty with a group of women who were having a bachelorette party at a local nightspot prior to the crash. In another incident, officers fired approximately 100 shots at a motorist during a busy Urban Weekend celebration surrounding Memorial Day; numerous innocent bystanders were injured by police bullets. After several years of scrutiny, the investigation remains open. In August 2013, a teenage graffiti artist was chased by police after being observed tagging an abandoned building. The teenager subsequently died after being shot with a Taser. His family has filed a lawsuit against the city of Miami Beach.[3][4]

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References
  1. Homepage of Flagler Beach Police Department, retrieved on July 25, 2009 Archived May 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Official homepage of the MBPD". Web.miamibeachfl.gov. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
  3. "Miami Beach police department comes under scrutiny". Fox News. 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  4. Zachary Fagenson (Aug 27, 2013). "Miami Beach police sued by family of teen who died after tasing". Mobile.reuters.com. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
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