The Florida Senate

775.0843  Policies to be adopted for career criminal cases.--

(1)  Criminal justice agencies shall employ enhanced law enforcement management efforts and resources for the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of career criminals. Each state attorney, sheriff, and the police chief of each municipality shall provide for or participate in a career criminal prosecution program to coordinate the efforts contemplated by this section and ss. 775.0841 and 775.0842. Enhanced law enforcement efforts and resources include, but are not limited to:

(a)  Assignment of highly qualified investigators and prosecutors to career criminal cases.

(b)  Significant reduction of caseloads for investigators and prosecutors assigned to career criminal cases.

(c)  Coordination with federal, state, and local criminal justice agencies to facilitate the collection and dissemination of criminal investigative and intelligence information relating to those persons meeting the criteria of a career criminal.

(2)  Each state attorney's office shall establish a career criminal prosecution unit and adopt and implement policies based on the following guidelines:

(a)  All reasonable prosecutorial efforts shall be made to resist the pretrial release of a charged defendant meeting career criminal criteria.

(b)  A plea of guilty or a trial conviction shall be sought on each offense charged in the accusatory pleadings against an individual meeting career criminal criteria.

(c)  All reasonable prosecutorial efforts shall be made to reduce the time between arrest and disposition of charges against an individual meeting career criminal criteria.

(d)  All reasonable prosecutorial efforts shall be made to persuade the court to impose the most severe sanction authorized upon a person convicted after prosecution as a career criminal.

(3)  This section does not prohibit a plea agreement in the interest of justice when there are codefendants and the prosecuting attorney determines that the information or testimony of the defendant making the agreement is necessary for the conviction of one or more of the other codefendants. The court may condition its acceptance of such plea agreement on the provision of such information or testimony by such defendant.

(4)  Law enforcement agencies shall employ enhanced law enforcement management efforts and resources in the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of career criminals. Enhanced law enforcement efforts and resources include, but are not limited to:

(a)  Crime analysis, consisting of the timely collection and study of local crime data to:

1.  Identify evolving or existing crime patterns involving career criminals.

2.  Provide investigative leads.

3.  Isolate and identify geographical areas or population groups experiencing severe crime problems in order to improve crime prevention efforts.

4.  Provide supporting data for improved allocation of overall law enforcement agency resources.

(b)  Improved management of investigative operations involving use of information resulting from crime analysis, which may include participation in multijurisdictional investigative and mutual-aid units and measures to increase continuity of investigative efforts from the initial response through the arrest and prosecution of the offender.

(5)  Each career criminal apprehension program shall concentrate on the identification and arrest of career criminals and the support of subsequent prosecution. The determination of which suspected felony offenders shall be the subject of career criminal apprehension efforts shall be made in accordance with written target selection criteria selected by the individual law enforcement agency and state attorney consistent with the provisions of this section and ss. 775.08401 and 775.0842.

(6)  Each career criminal apprehension program, as one of its functions, shall maintain coordination with the prosecutor assigned to each case resulting from its efforts. This coordination shall include, but is not limited to, case preparation, processing, and adjudication.

History.--s. 5, ch. 88-131; s. 3, ch. 89-280; s. 6, ch. 95-182.