LTC 076-2019 Ocean Drive TOPS Program MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC# 076-2019 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members o the City ommission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: February 7, 2019
SUBJECT: Ocean Drive TOPS Program
This Letter to Commission is written to notify you that the off-duty police patrol program
for Ocean Drive that is known as the "Tourist Oriented Police Services" (T.O.P.S.) will
begin this weekend and extend through the last weekend in February between 9 and 11
Streets. TOPS will be temporarily suspended during the Spring Break enhanced staffing
program that the MBPD regularly deploys each March, but it will begin again during the
first weekend in April.
The TOPS off-duty program will place an additional four officers and a supervisor on
Ocean Drive, with the primary purpose of these officers to patrol the west side of the
street. The days and hours of this program are as follows:
Thursdays: 9pm-3am
Fridays: 9pm-3am
Saturdays: 9pm-3am
Sundays: 5pm-lam
TOPS was originally begun as a pilot program for 12 weeks during the summer of 2018
and proved to be very effective in reducing crime and increasing uniform visibility on
weekend evenings on Ocean Drive. TOPS assignments must be filled by officers who
volunteer to work during their off-duty hours. Recruiting officers and supervisors for these
positions each weekend can be a challenge. The Police Department expects that as this
program gets back underway, the needed positions will eventually be filled with regular
volunteers.
JLM:DJO:IR:tr