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Highway Patrol details interdiction wins, staffing shortfall and limits on using seized dollars for fleet purchases
Summary
David Kerner, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, told the Senate committee that FHP seized substantial narcotics and assets in the last year, that the agency faces a trooper vacancy problem (1,982 on hand versus 2,032 authorized), and that seized dollars cannot be repurposed for fleet purchases without appropriate budget authority.
David Kerner, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, told the Senate Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security on Feb. 4 that the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) runs multiple specialized units for domestic security and criminal interdiction and that recent operations produced substantial narcotics and asset seizures.
Kerner described a criminal interdiction unit of about 60 troopers (split between felony troopers and canine handlers), drug‑recognition experts, traffic homicide investigators, three Special Response Team (SRT) units and a Quick Reaction Force of roughly 360 troopers. He said the FHP uses handheld narcotics analyzers and unmanned aircraft systems for scene mapping and that a drone pilot pilot project reduced some traffic‑scene closure times.
Kerner listed interdiction results for the previous 12 months as delivered to the committee: about 3,000 pounds of marijuana, 325 pounds of cocaine, 420 pounds of methamphetamine, 55 pounds of fentanyl, $4,800,000 in U.S. currency and 273 vehicles recovered. He also described the "Bite Back" multi‑agency interdiction operation (15 operations in 18 months) and said he met with federal partners to add Homeland Security Investigations and ICE to future operations.
On staffing, Kerner said the department had 1,982 troopers on the force and the authorized ceiling was 2,032. He told the committee he would not request additional troopers at this time because the agency cannot hire enough personnel to keep vacancy rates low without addressing pay disparities; he said pay becomes the limiting factor in achieving authorized staffing levels.
Committee members asked about using seized dollars for fleet purchases. Kerner said department budget authority sets the department's spending cap and that money beyond the budgeted authority typically reverts to state or trust funds; accordingly, the department cannot simply use seized funds to buy additional patrol vehicles without legislative appropriation or specific trust authority.
Kerner closed with an account of a recent human‑smuggling prosecution that the department supported; he said the Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court's ruling and held the conduct fell within Florida's human smuggling statute in the case identified in testimony as the Jan. 17 opinion concerning defendant Blanco. He framed the case as an example of how state law enforcement and judicial review interact to address cross‑jurisdictional smuggling.
