LTC 033-2018 City of Miami Beach Municipal Prosecutor Program UpOFFICE OF THE CITY ATTC)RNPv
LTC No. _ 033-2018
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber
Members of the City Commission
City Manager Jimmy L. Moral2
FROM: City Attorney Raul J. AguilC
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DATE: January 25, 2018
LETTER TO COMMISSION
SUBJECT: City of Miami Beach Municipal Prosecutor Program Update
The purpose of this Letter to Commission is to provide the Mayor and City Commission with
detailed information surrounding the establishment of the City of Miami Beach's Municipal
Prosecutor Program (the "Program"), and the current developments concerning this new
initiative since the commencement of prosecutions on January 8, 2018.
INTRODUCTION
Florida law expressly authorizes local governmental entities to enforce their own ordinance
violations in the county court. As such, the City of Miami Beach has the legal authority to invoke
the jurisdiction of the county court to enforce violations of its municipal ordinances, and to
prosecute such criminal municipal ordinance violations with its own City prosecutor. To facilitate
these municipal prosecutions, Section 162.22 of the Florida Statutes reads, "[t]he governing
body of a municipality may designate the enforcement methods and penalties to be imposed for
the violation of ordinances adopted by the municipality....", and Section 34.13(5) of the Florida
Statutes succinctly states that, "[m]unicipal prosecutors may prosecute violations of municipal
ordinances."
In response to this express legal authority, the Mayor and City Commission adopted Resolution
No. 2017-30024 on September 25, 2017, which authorized the City Attorney's Office to enhance
its staffing through the addition of an Assistant City Attorney (and corresponding legal assistant)
to handle the prosecution(s) of the City's criminal ordinance violations. It was determined that
the City Municipal Prosecutor would be directly responsible for prosecuting those individuals
exclusively charged with violating one or more of the City's criminal ordinances.
The more common criminal municipal ordinance violations that will be prosecuted, include:
Public Parks/Beaches Closed During Certain Hours (82-2); Diving/Swimming Prohibited at
Piers, Bridges and Viaducts (82-3); Alcoholic Beverages in Public — Consume/Serve/Sell/
Possession Prohibited (70-87); High Impact Events on Beach Property (82-443); Outdoor
Storage (70-41); Urinating/Defecating in Plain View in Public Prohibited (70-42) and Vehicles
Prohibited on Beaches and Portions of the Open Space Park (82-439). However, it should be
noted that, if there is any accompanying State law violation(s), then such individual(s) will
continue to be prosecuted by the Miami -Dade State Attorney's Office.
Letter to Commission Re: Municipal Prosecutor Program Update
January 25, 2018
Page 2 of 3
Presently, the City of Miami Beach is the sole municipality in Miami -Dade County that has
established a Municipal Prosecutor Program. All other existing municipalities throughout the
County expressly delegate such prosecutorial authority to the Miami -Dade State Attorney's
Office (each municipality pays for this service) in prosecuting those individuals charged solely
with criminal municipal ordinance violations.
The establishment of this new Program by the City, as the first municipality in Miami -Dade
County to prosecute its own criminal municipal ordinance violations, resulted in a multitude of
novel hurdles that the City had to specifically address and overcome prior to the
commencement of its Program on January 8, 2018. Specifically, Chief Deputy City Attorney,
Aleksandr Boksner, met with the City Prosecutor for the City of Fort Lauderdale in September,
in order to ascertain the mechanisms under which the City of Ft. Lauderdale has been
prosecuting its own municipal ordinance violations in Broward County for approximately thirty
(30) years.
In further preparation for the Program, Mr. Boksner held numerous meetings with
representatives from various stakeholders, which included the Miami -Dade State Attorney's
Office, the Chief Administrative Judge and the Associate Administrative Judge of the Miami -
Dade County Court criminal division, the Miami -Dade County Public Defender's Office, the
Miami -Dade County Clerk's Office, the Miami -Dade County Administrative Office of the Courts
and the Miami -Dade County Information Technology Department. These meetings were
necessary to properly coordinate the implementation of the City's Program, and to ensure that
any potential impediments were successfully resolved prior to the City commencing these
prosecutions on January 8, 2018.
In response to these meetings, a multitude of issues emerged from the discussions, which
necessitated action on the part of the affected entities to make certain that the City Prosecutor
was properly recognized as the legal prosecuting authority for these criminal cases. These
issues, amongst others, included:
• Computer programming of the Criminal Justice Information System ("CJIS") to include
the automated marking of City of Miami Beach municipal ordinance violation cases as
being prosecuted by the City of Miami Beach;
• The automation of CJIS to ensure that those cases prosecuted by the City of Miami
Beach are properly identified on court setting sheets, calendars and dockets;
• Devising a methodology for the City of Miami Beach to obtain arrest form affidavits,
notices of subsequent court hearings, criminal history information and pleadings filed by
public defenders or private defense attorneys;
• Creating the appropriate criminal charging documents for individuals to be charged with
municipal ordinance violations;
• Structuring a mechanism for the City of Miami Beach to enter and generate subpoenas
in the eNotify system, and to prosecute cases where an incorrect, or incomplete,
municipal ordinance is utilized to effectuate the arrest of an individual; and
• Centralization of the City of Miami Beach's criminal municipal ordinance violation cases
handled by the City's Municipal Prosecutor, and ensuring that these cases are only to be
heard at the Miami -Dade County Criminal Justice Courthouse.
Letter to Commission Re: Municipal Prosecutor Program Update
January 25, 2018
Page 3 of 3
CONCLUSION
My office was successful in navigating these preliminary legal and procedural issues and, as a
result, I am pleased to inform you that the City's Municipal Prosecutor Program has officially
commenced the active prosecution of these violations as of Monday, January 8, 2018. In its
initial two (2) week period, our Municipal Prosecution Program team handled twenty-two (22)
criminal municipal ordinance violation cases, which resulted in the successful prosecution of
fourteen (14) criminal defendants. Additionally, five (5) cases have been set for status or trial at
a future date, and three (3) cases were dismissed by the Court.
While it is conceivable that there will be unanticipated issues that emerge surrounding the
Municipal Prosecutor Program, at this early juncture of the Program, it appears to be
progressing in a positive direction for the City's residents, visitors and business operators.
Should you have any questions or concerns about any of the foregoing, please don't hesitate to
contact me.
RJA/AB/sc