Forty-four Miami-Dade Police detectives will be disciplined for disregarding policy and speeding, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
The 44 detectives drove 90 mph or faster more than 400 times while on and off duty in unmarked vehicles. All officers will receive a "counseling," and 39 will lose their take-home car privilege for a month. The majority will attend an eight-hour driving safety course, the newspaper reported.
Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman Maj. Nancy Perez said the fast speeds are against police policy and that half of the speeding took place while the detectives were off duty.
"All law enforcement officers must be fully aware of the ethical responsibilities of their position and must strive constantly to live up to the highest possible standards of professional policing,'' James Loftus, director of the countywide department, was quoted as saying.
A previous investigation by the police department resulted in the punishment of 138 officers from different South Florida jurisdictions. Miami Police chief Manuel Orosa said one or more officers would be fired from his district, the Sentinel reported.
"Anyone in this country can speed, and you don't lose your job,'' Orosa was quoted as saying by the Sentinel. "But in police work, if you speed you're open to losing your job.''
