New Kendall city would need $18-19M for police services

kendall police

kendall police deptA policing unit for a new municipality in northwestern Kendall would cost $18-19 million annually to serve an estimated 128,874 residents, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) study.

Details to create a policing unit were presented by MDPD Capt. David Rock of the Strategic Planning and Development Section to the West Kendall MAC 1 (Municipal Advisory Committee) during its second 2015 session, Feb. 18, focusing on area policing costs.

The policing area would cover 27 square miles or approximately 40 percent of the total territory now within MDPD’s Hammocks District that serves a total of 329,656 residents south from SW Eighth Street to the Monroe County line, including farming areas served by an Agricultural Patrol Unit.

Commissioner Juan C. Zapata is expected to provide commentary on the policing study and other committee questions at the next MAC 1 meeting on Wednesday, Mar. 18, 6:30 p.m., in the Media Center of Zelda Glazer Middle School, 15015 SW 24 St. The meeting is open to the public.

MDPD staffing recommendation is based partly on service calls that totaled 97,162 during 2014 in Hammocks District with 37 percent attributed to the proposed incorporation area.

The MAC study is bound on the north by SW Eighth Street (Tamiami Trail); south by SW 88th Street (Kendall Drive), roughly between Florida’s Turnpike and Krome (177th Avenue) except for a por-tion east of SW 147th Avenue in Miami- Dade Commission District 10.

The policing recommendation provides estimates for two budgets: $18.377 million for a minimum staff of 128 officers and administrative personnel plus $946,481 for special contracted services; $19.853 million for enhanced staffing of 138 officers and administrators with $1,022,514 for contracted services that includes a crime suppression team and neighborhood resource units.

Both forces would be equipped with 95 marked vehicles, the largest single nonsalary expense estimated at $782,990 with an additional 20 unmarked vehicles ($126,660) for minimal staffing, 30 vehicles ($189,990) for an enhanced program.

Separate contracts would be needed for both to include personnel management, fiscal administration, public safety training, compliance bureau services, facilities maintenance and equipment (radio system, officer equipment, etc.).

Currently, MDPD has 153 officers under similarly drawn five-year contracts in the Town of Miami Lakes, Village of Palmetto Bay and Town of Cutler Bay to provide support services.

Optional service areas, neither staffed nor contracted, are listed for marine and motorcycle patrols, a special events unit, drug abuse education and school crossing guard programs.

A Jan. 21 session heard staff presentations from the county’s Planning and Zoning staffs and the Department of Environmental Regulation Management regarding interfacing services with incorporated areas. The WK MAC 1 holds study sessions the third Wednesday of each month.

For information, visit online at www.miamidade.gov/incorporationandannexation/west-kendall-section-1.asp.


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3 COMMENTS

  1. Looks like a commissioner zapata is looking for a major’s job, increase in taxes, and another level of government.

  2. I guess you want the people in Kendall to be as miserable, poor, and overtaxed as the people in Miami Gardens are. We don't need any more bureaucracies and taxes wasted on duplication of services that the county already provides.

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