Manatee County, Florida is located on the West Coast south of Tampa and north of Sarasota. The main law enforcement agency is the
Manatee County Sheriffs Office which is assisted by the Florida Highway Patrol, City of Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach, Longboat Key, and city of Palmetto.
Law enforcement issued over 33,000 moving infractions last year with almost 16,000 written or unlawful speed. The Florida Highway Patrol issued over 5,000 citations last year, many ocurring during aircraft speed enforcement details. That detail employs an FHP pilot who travels between a set of white lines in the roadway that are one-quarter mile apart. As motorists travel between the distance the pilot in the air clocks the car with the stopwatch and then radios to a trooper on the ground to pull you over. Both officers must attend court in order for the case to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition, the pilot Sgt. needs to establish that he properly calibrated his stopwatch within 6 months of issuing the citation. Failure to inspect the stopwatch within that time period is cause for the citation to be dismissed.
Aside from speeding tickets, law enforcement in Manatee County issued close to 5,000 tickets for careless driving and failure to yield the right of way. Like several other areas within the state, the Florida Highway Patrol works most accidents in the unicorporated areas of the county. In most instances following an accident they do end up writing a ticket if they can determine who is it fault. Law enforcement also issued close to 6,000 citations for driving while license suspended in violation of Florida statute 322.34 and no valid driver's license in violation of Florida Statute 322.03.
Manatee county has four county court Judges, Robert Farrance, Mark Singer, Douglas Henderson, and George K. Brown. Typically, two of the Judges are assigned to civil and two assigned to the criminal bench. Manatee county is part of the twelfth Judicial Circuit which comprises Sarasota and Desoto County.
If you are facing a criminal charge or have a pending citation in Manatee County please call the office at 1-800-FIGHT-IT so we can discuss the individual facts of your case. We are here to help.
We cover cases in Anna Maria, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach, Longboat Key, Palmetto, Lakewood Ranch, Bayshore Gardens, Cortez, Ellenton, Memphis, Samoset, South Bradenton, West Bradenton, Whitfield, Duette, Myakka City, Oneco, Parrish, Ellenton, Terra Ceia, Gillette, Palm View, Manavista, Fort Hammer, Rutland, Manhattan, Oak Knol, Waterbury, Verna, Old Myakka, Marsh Island, Snead Island, Rattlesnake Key, Rye, Elwood Park, Ward Lake, Cedar Hammock, Willow, Foxleigh, Lake Manatee, and Tara.