Lifeguards log diver-flag problems off the beach; police wrote five diver-flag tickets in a year

Miami Beach lifeguards logged 24 incidents from June through October that required a response, most of them involving divers in the water without a warning flag or boats in the area, but the police department’s marine patrol issued only five tickets for diver-down flag violations in the past year, and none of those were on the ocean side, according to a city memo going to a commission committee Monday.

The Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee takes up the item at its 9 a.m. meeting Monday, Nov. 9, in the City Hall commission chamber, 1700 Convention Center Drive. Commissioner Tanya K. Bhatt asked for the discussion in July after complaints from residents, divers and boaters about vessels passing too close and too fast, the memo says.

State law requires boaters to make a reasonable effort to stay at least 300 feet from a displayed diver-down flag in open water and 100 feet in inlets, rivers and channels, and to slow to idle speed when they are closer.

Two sets of numbers

The city’s Ocean Rescue lifeguards staff 38 towers. Its activity logs list three incidents in June, five in July, three in August, six in September and seven in October, including divers without flags, boats in the area and, in October, rescues of distressed swimmers and kayakers. Lifeguards have no power to write citations, so they call police or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the memo says the wait for an officer weakens the deterrent.

The police department’s own audit found no calls for service about diver-down flags in the past year, and its officers saw no violations on routine patrols of the jetty and the reef line. From Nov. 1, 2025, through Oct. 25, 2026, marine patrol wrote five civil boating citations, all inside the bay: four for displaying a flag improperly and one for leaving a flag up with no diver below. Two came during the July lobster mini-season.

Police say officers can cite a diver-flag violation only if they see it. Without a photo or video, a boat is hard to identify, and many snorkelers carry no phone. With video, an officer could ask the state attorney’s office whether it supports a reckless boating charge.

What the city recommends

The administration recommends that marine patrol and Ocean Rescue work out clearer citation rules, look at more nearshore staffing and consider more rescue boats or jet skis that can launch from the beach, plus outreach at marinas, rental shops, dive operators and beach entrances. The memo says this will require more money but gives no figure, and staff are to return to the committee with refined recommendations.

The meeting can be watched online; the agenda has the link.