by Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix

As Florida gears up its deputization of state troopers to take part in immigration enforcement, the Highway Patrol can’t hire enough troopers to meet its workforce target, Dave Kerner, director of the Department of Highway and Motor Safety, told a House committee Tuesday.

Republican lawmakers questioned Kerner about the $10.3 million the agency spends on overtime pay for troopers and its efforts to fill the 729 agency-wide vacancies, 138 of which are for sworn troopers. The agency was the first to enroll in an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorizing state troopers to question and detain people living in the country without authorization.

“Now, running a business, if my overtime is $10 million, I think I got a problem,” Dade City Republican Randy Maggard said during the House Transportation and Economic Development Budget Subcommittee meeting.

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Kerner said the agency has had difficulty hiring troopers, whose starting salary is $54,075, the third lowest in the country for a trooper or state police officer, according to FHMVS’ budget request for the next fiscal year. The agency is asking lawmakers for $12 million for salary increases.

“The genesis of the concern here is that we lose more troopers than we can hire … because of the lack of pay, the lack of a career development plan,” Kerner said. “It is much more efficient for a trooper to come and work at the Florida Highway Patrol, get trained, and then three years later leave to a better-paying department. We have to supplement that vacancy rate with overtime.”

The average length of service for troopers is six years, according to the budget request. Lawmakers in the Joint Legislative Budget Commission gave the agency $7.6 million in September for hiring staff in the Division of Motorist Services, law enforcement dispatchers and support staff, and 70 troopers.

“I don’t know that you’ll see the vacancy rate lower in a meaningful way through the end of this fiscal year given the resources that we currently have,” Kerner said.

All sheriffs and several municipalities will also cooperate with ICE through the federal 287(g) task force model program that require the officers to go through 40 hours of training on immigration laws and civil rights as Gov. Ron DeSantis pushes for the state to become a leader in internal immigration enforcement.

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Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

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Jeffrey P. Lieser