Florida Statewide Prosecutors Serve Subpoenas on Broward Commission Amid Airport Police Fight
Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution has opened a new front in the growing dispute over law enforcement at Broward County’s airport and seaport.
At the office’s request, the Broward Sheriff’s Office began serving subpoenas on Sept. 9, 2026. The subpoenas went to every member of the Broward County Commission, County Administrator Monica Cepero, the deputy county administrator, and several other senior members of the county administration.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office confirmed the action in a public statement:
“At the request of Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Broward Sheriff’s Office began serving subpoenas on Sept. 9, 2026, on the entire Broward County Commission, county administrator, deputy county administrator and several other senior ranking members of the County Administration.”
The subpoenas come as county officials consider whether to remove the sheriff’s office from law-enforcement operations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades.
According to reporting cited by the source, prosecutors are examining the county’s review of whether the Broward Sheriff’s Office should continue handling security at the airport and seaport. The review reportedly includes a feasibility study conducted by consulting firm Jensen Hughes.
Broward County has explored creating separate police departments for the airport and Port Everglades. That proposal could significantly change public-safety operations at two of South Florida’s busiest transportation facilities. It could also carry a substantial cost for taxpayers.
The sheriff’s office has argued that replacing its established operations with new departments could cost more and weaken law-enforcement services. BSO has published information stating that the county is considering independent police agencies for the airport and seaport while also examining whether Fire Rescue should be placed under direct county control.
Previous transition studies, according to BSO’s public explanation of the dispute, found that creating new departments could be more expensive than continuing services through the sheriff’s office.
The investigation also comes after a broader state review of Broward law-enforcement spending. In June, Florida Bulldog reported that the Florida Department of Government Efficiency ordered Sheriff Gregory Tony to provide extensive financial records dating back to 2022. The requested materials reportedly include contracts, invoices, payments, personnel costs, and purchasing documents.
The subpoenas target the entire sitting county commission, which the source identifies as Democrat-controlled, along with the county’s top unelected administrators. Sheriff Gregory Tony’s deputies delivered the papers while the commission weighs a move that could push BSO out of airport and seaport policing.
The controversy adds to the long list of Broward County disputes that have drawn statewide and national attention. In 2018, then-Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes oversaw a chaotic midterm recount. The county’s reported vote total increased by roughly 80,000 during the four days after Election Day amid ballot-handling and reporting problems.
Earlier that year, thousands of mail ballots were found uncounted after the August primary. A judge later ruled that Snipes’s office illegally destroyed ballots from the 2016 Democrat primary between Tim Canova and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Snipes resigned amid the controversy, and Gov. Ron DeSantis formally accepted the resignation in January 2019.
That same year, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office faced national outrage after the Parkland massacre. The source also notes that school resource deputy Scot Peterson remained outside Building 1, but provides no further details in the supplied report.
For now, the subpoenas put the county commission and its senior administrators under scrutiny as officials consider whether to overhaul policing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades.
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Statement from the Broward Sheriff’s Office:
"At the request of Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Broward Sheriff’s Office began serving subpoenas on Sept. 9, 2026, on the entire Broward County Commission, county administrator, deputy county administrator and… pic.twitter.com/inQbQRE08c
— Sheriff Gregory Tony, Ph.D. (@bsosherifftony) September 10, 2026