New Florida law will give new powers to deputies when patrolling beaches

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office has begun patrolling the beaches, ahead of a new law transferring expanded law enforcement power to them.

Gov. DeSantis is expected to sign the Law Enforcement Operations Bill soon. The impending law is aimed at giving sheriff's offices power over the unincorporated parts of each county. The Volusia County Beach Patrol currently does water rescues, EMS, and law enforcement on the shores. When the bill is signed, the beach patrol staff will focus on non-law enforcement responsibilities. 

"We’re ready, we’ve been working on this transition for a few weeks now," said Volusia Beach Safety Chief Tammy Malphurs. "We’re working very closely with the Volusia Sheriff’s Office to make this transition as smoothly as possible."

The department released a series of tweets about the transition, one of them reads as follows:

"Deputies have already been training & handling law enforcement on the beach. While some beach safety officers have been sworn in as deputies, many more will transfer over in the coming days. They'll be right back on the beach with a new badge, uniform & more field training," the tweet reads.

When the bill was in the earlier stages, there was some tension between the Volusia County Beach Safety Officers’ union, which is called the Volusia Watermen’s Association, and the Sheriff’s office. Malphurs said many of those issues have been resolved, and she said she feels good about where the transition is thus far.

"What happens when we lose our law enforcement capability, we’re all hands on deck with water and EMS, so we’ll be able to do a better job of concentrating on those two jobs," she said, "There’s a lot of good things coming out of this."

According to the union, Beach Safety is facing many staffing challenges headed into the summer. Click here to learn more about how to get involved.