Commissioner Diaz calls for more police

(MIAMI-DADE COUNTY) FL – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz is calling on the County to hire more officers at the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) to bring the size of the police force up to the national average.

Commissioner Diaz is sponsoring a resolution at the Tuesday, June 2 Board of County Commissioners meeting directing the mayor’s administration to prepare a report recommending ways to increase police staffing levels and examining the impacts the police force’s shrinking size has had on its ability to adequately carry out its responsibilities. The resolution also calls for diverse hiring.

MDPD – which has experienced a 10 percent decline in the number of officer positions since 2000 – has approximately 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents in the unincorporated areas it serves. According to the FBI’s 2013 report, that’s below the national average of 2.7 officers per 1,000; it’s also less than the 3.1 per 1,000 reported for the South Atlantic region.

“MDPD doesn’t just serve the unincorporated areas but also provides a host of specialized investigative and support services countywide, and I believe it’s incumbent on us to find ways to hire more officers to at least catch up to the national average,” Commissioner Diaz said.