LTC 073-2005 Public Safety Initiatives on the Boardwalk
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 073-2005
~
To:
From:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez '\ rrr--~
City Manager () 0
Date: March 15, 2005
Subject: PUBLIC SAFETY INITIATIVES ON THE BOARDWALK
The purpose of this Letter to the Commission is to update the Mayor and City Commission
on the Administration's initiatives to enhance the police presence on the City's Boardwalk
from 21 st Street to 46th Street.
As way of background, on January 11,2005, Commissioner Smith and I hosted a meeting
with Mr. Peter Rickman and other representatives from "Save Our Boardwalk". The
meeting was attended by representatives of various City and County Departments
including Police, Sanitation, Parks and Neighborhood Services. The purpose of the
meeting was to discuss ways to improve the public safety and maintenance of the
Boardwalk.
The City currently provides private security service on the Boardwalk through Armor
Security Inc. Armor Security patrols the Boardwalk with two guards assigned to two shifts
daily. The first shift is a four hour shift from 5:00 AM to 9:00 AM and the second shift is an
eight hour shift starting at 5:00 PM and ending at 1 :00 AM. During the month of January,
the security contract with Armor was up for renewal. The contract had already gone out for
bids and the City was in the process of reviewing eleven security companies interested in
bidding on this contract. The Police Department has recommended a primary and
secondary company to provide uniformed security guard service.
Following the meeting, all Middle District shift commanders and supervisors were instructed
to make the Boardwalk a crime prevention priority and to assign a portion of their resources
each day to address crime and public safety issues.
Below are some of the initiatives implemented by the Middle District Shift Commanders.
. Utilize the two hour shift overlap between Patrol Shifts (7:00 AM to 9:00 AM, 3:00
PM to 5:00 PM and 11 :00 PM to 1 :00 AM), to assign a squad of officers to the
Boardwalk.
. The assignment of Park and Walk Details on the Boardwalk throughout the three
patrol shifts.
. The assignment of a Plain clothes detail utilizing two police officers from January 12
through January 31,2005 during the Afternoon Shift hours of 3:00 PM to 11 :00 PM.
In addition, Middle District Shift Commanders are assigning one uniformed police
officer on a bicycle during the same hours.
. The assignment of plainclothes Crime Suppression Team to walk the entire
Boardwalk at least one evening a week.
. The assignment of the Robbery Task Force to deploy on Friday and Saturday nights
with at least two police officers to monitor the Boardwalk each weekend.
. The assignment of 2 police officers to ride A TVs on the beach side of the Boardwalk
on a 24hour, 7 days a week basis.
Further, the MBPD conducted Quality of Life Missions on the Boardwalk on January 19,
February 10, and February 18. Referrals were made to the appropriate departments
regarding to code violations, garbage on the streets, the homeless, non-working
telephones and lights.
Coordination between Miami Beach Police Department Officers and security guards
assigned to the Boardwalk has improved. The guards are continually encouraged to
summon police officers whenever they observe suspicious activity. The security guards
now include all contacts with police officers on their daily log sheets.
Evidence of these improvements on the Boardwalk is evidenced by the numberof calls for
service on the Boardwalk in the last two months of January and February 2005. During
this time period there were a total of 115 calls for service and 12 arrests. Most of these
calls were initiated by police officers assigned to the Boardwalk and security guards
reporting minor incidents to the police. This is very significant when compared to 38 calls
for a five month period prior to the January 11, 2005 meeting.
Perhaps the most promising initiative is the creation of a Citizen's Crime Watch Committee
for the Boardwalk. To further our commitment to this endeavor, the MBPD department has
worked with Mr. Rickman in selecting Mr. Paul Segel man as Chair for this committee. The
Citizen's Crime Watch Committee had there first meeting on March 2, 2005 with
representatives of the MBPD in attendance. In addition, Committee organizers are in the
process of actively recruiting representatives of the adjacent hotels and commercial
establishments.
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