The Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) is appealing a Miami-Dade County judge’s dismissal of the FSA’s lawsuit challenging the County Commission’s intention to maintain authority over police services ahead of an independent sheriff’s election in 2024. 

The FSA filed the lawsuit in the 11th Judicial Circuit after the commission passed a resolution to continue the Miami-Dade Police Department’s role of providing police patrol services in the county’s unincorporated areas. 

The association contends that a 2018 statewide constitutional amendment removing charter counties’ authority to abolish such county elected offices as the sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, supervisor of elections or circuit court clerk prevents the commission from continuing to oversee police services in unincorporated areas once an elected sheriff is elected in 2024, according to the complaint.