This morning while walking on the beach, I encountered Sheriff's Deputy Ryan Brown. I asked him what the prevailing policy by the Sheriff's Office was regarding trespass on the beach. He was kind enough to share with me correspondence received from the state attorney's office on the matter. It is as follows: RE: TRESPASS ON THE BEACH In order to effectively Prosecute "Trespass on the aBeach" cases the following must be accomplished at or during Arrest and included in the Arrest Report. 1. The Authority or person requesting Law Enforcement Action i.e. property owner; representative of property owner and proof of representation authority. You must obtain a Sworn Statement from complainant. 2. Exact location of trespass i.e. Latitude/Longitude by G.P.S. or some other precise method. 3. Boundary description of property involved in trespass. Needed in order to place Defendandt inside property. 4. Location of mean high waterline on property involved if property is beach front property. This is NOT necessarily determined by the line of wet/dry sand. Example: If property is a sub-division or development and the trespass is at lot 10A then the owner or representative of lot 10A can issue trespass warnings for the location involved. And, if beach front property, it must show where the mean high waterline is located if offense is close to waters edge. The "mean high water" is defined as the average height of the high waters over a 19 year period. F.S. 177.28 (14) and (15) F.S. 177.28 (1) 5. Photographs that accurately show the location of the trespass that also show known landmarks. The only question I have remaining is where does this leave us in regard to signs on the beach?
