Seizure of Cash at the Tampa International Airport
For over 10 years, the attorneys at Sammis Law Firm have been helping clients get their cash back after it was seized by the authorities at the Tampa International Airport. We can help you file a verified claim for court action immediately after the seizure, even before the notice of seizure arrives in the mail.
The attorneys in our firm focus on civil asset forfeiture cases in both state and federal court. We can also go to court to force the Tampa International Airport authorities to turn over surveillance video of your detention or the search of your luggage. To win these cases, your attorney should obtain the surveillance video.
After the seizure of your cash, the seizing officer should have provided you a receipt. If not, your attorney can contact that agency to get a copy of any receipt issues.
Call us for more information.
Obtaining Surveillance Video from the Tampa International Airport
The authorities at the airport, including the Tampa International Airport, never make it easy to obtain video surveillance evidence. For this reason, you need an attorney to quickly send the appropriate letters to identify and preserve the evidence.
In Florida, the Airport Authorities retain surveillance video for 30 days per the Florida Department of State retention schedule. The retention policy provides:
GS1-SL ITEM # GS1-SL – RECORDS SERIES TITLE DESCRIPTION RETENTION
302 SURVEILLANCE RECORDINGS –
This record series consists of surveillance recordings created to monitor activities occurring inside and/or outside of public buildings and/or on public property (including in public vehicles such as school buses and municipal buses, and in public roadways such as intersections monitored by red light cameras).
Since these recordings may play an integral part in prosecution or disciplinary actions, agencies are responsible for ensuring that internal management policies are in place establishing criteria for which images should be retained for further investigation. 30 days.
You can find the entire schedule on the Florida Department of State website. If you make a request for video surveillance, the authorities at the Tampa International Airport and Central Records will claim that the video is both a component of and reveals part of Tampa International Airport’s security system or surveillance techniques.
For that reason, they consider the video to be confidential and exempt from public disclosure under Florida Statute Sections 119.071(2)(d), 119.071(3)(a), 281.301, and 331.22. Note also, if applicable, that active criminal investigative information is also exempt under Section 119.071(2).
If the video also involves the checkpoint area, it contains sensitive security information controlled by 49 CFR Parts 15 and 1520 or other pertinent state or federal statutes.
As such and in accordance with those statutes, the Airport Authority will only disclose the requested video to you upon a showing of good cause before a court of competent jurisdiction. Until you obtain such a court order, you should file the appropriate demand to preserve the video that has been retained until that time.
If you are wondering how to get the seized money back from the airport, then contact us to find out the importance of obtaining the surveillance video from the airport authorities.
This article was last updated on Wednesday,
