Miami Beach Commissioners Pass Ordinance To Bust Repeat Offenders
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Causing trouble on Miami Beach? It'll cost you.
On Wednesday, commissioners passed a resolution to stop dropping minor charges.
It comes as an unruly crowd prompted a large police response.
Police say the crowd became hostile and did not comply, leading to a couple of arrests.
"There is a 92 dismissal rate of our municipal ordinance. So the police go out, they arrest people that are habitual offenders, and they are routinely dismissed by court. So we are sending a message we want to be tough," said Commissioner Michael Gongora.
He said something needed to be done to protect residents and deter the increase of criminal activity.
"We are trying to let people know you can't come to Miami Beach and engage in criminal behavior or you will get arrested and you will get prosecuted," he said.
It was Commissioner Steven Meiner who proposed ordinance R7N.
"This resolution requires and directs our municipal process team that if someone is arrested and they have a prior criminal record that we will prosecute that case," Meiner said.
And if you're a tourist heading to the beach, Meiner said you're not off the hook.
"Prior to this, we didn't know if you had a prior criminal record other than Miami-Dade County. Now we can check and see that this person may have had a robust criminal history elsewhere," he said.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said this is a step forward.
"If you demand a level of order, especially ordinance violations like smoking pot and open containers, things like that, if you demand it, then you won't get a cascade impact," he said. "The idea is to create a sense of order where there has been too much disorder."
But critiques worry this will take police off the streets when they are needed for the bigger crimes committed.
"Obviously, we want to focus on the major crimes, but it is all a process. You know, people talk about the broken window syndrome and prosecuting small crimes leads to people not to people not committing any crime at all," said Gelber.
