‘Fentanyl affects everyone’: Police chiefs detail their biggest concerns in South Florida

South Florida law enforcement leaders gathered Friday for a roundtable to discuss two topics they feel are among the most pressing in their communities: border security and the fentanyl epidemic.

In a roundtable hosted by Republican Sen. Rick Scott, police chiefs from departments across the tricounty area, and on the Treasure Coast, met at the West Palm Beach Police Department headquarters to voice their concerns to Scott about the deadly fentanyl presence and how to best handle the increase of migrants landing on Florida’s coasts.

“These are some big concerns throughout the tricounty area,” said Frank Adderley, chief of police at the West Palm Beach Police Department.

A large concern among law enforcement voiced at the meeting was how to get a grip on the fentanyl crisis. Some ideas floated to fix the issue were mandatory minimum penalties for dealing the drug, and finding additional ways to shut off the main supply of the drug on the street, as well as shoring up better mental health services for the community.

“Fentanyl affects everyone,” said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder. “We are dedicated to this fight.”

Coral Springs Police Chief Bradley McKeone said his department usually gets a dozen calls a year relating to the epidemic.

“We’ve been having calls where someone has overdosed, and they thought they were shooting up another drug but it was in fact fentanyl,” he said.

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Scott recently reintroduced a bill called the Reduce Fentanyl Act that would require the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner to update the department’s policies on drug interdictions every three years to make sure that guidance is up to date to better prevent drugs from coming over the border.

“It’s going to take everyone’s effort and the public’s effort to educate on the risk of taking drugs,” Scott added, also stressing the need for the border to be more secure.

Leaders there also touched on the increase of migrants heading to Florida’s coast.

“We have to come up with a system that if people want to come here legally, they can actually do that,” Scott said. “Your heart goes out to anyone who is stuck in countries that don’t have the same opportunities that we do.”

According to the Coast Guard, the number of migrants trying to reach Florida by boat has increased in the past 12 months. The Coast Guard interdicted over 6,000 Cubans and over 7,000 Haitians in 2022, as compared to 800 Cubans and over 1,500 Haitians they interdicted in 2021.

[ RELATED: Wave of migrants in the Keys is a “crisis,” sheriff says ]

It comes as economic turmoil, lack of food and skyrocketing inflation in Cuba and other parts of the Caribbean have contributed to the increase.

In January, at least 500 migrants landed at Dry Tortugas National Park and other parts of the Keys, while a cruise ship helped rescue about 14 in December from their makeshift sailing vessel.

Many of the vessels carrying migrants are often in poor condition, rafts made out of plastic foam, or overloaded sailboats, where the Coast Guard often has to rescue them.

[ RELATED: Florida cruise ships pick up refugees at sea ]

“Some are just tarp, or made with Styrofoam. And it’s dangerous, if you [go through] the storms wrong, you aren’t going to survive,” Scott said.