Governor Rick Scott from Florida spoke to citizens and other politicians about the problem of auto insurance fraud within the state, and announced that he would be looking to Hillsborough County in order to come up with ideas for overcoming it.
Scott stated that they “have to get rid of fraud”. Many law enforcement officers and county officials sat with Scott as they discussed this goal. Jeff Atwater, the Chief Financial Officer in Florida, declared with Scott that they will be using Hillsborough as inspiration for their efforts to completely overhaul the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) law in the state within the 2012 legislative session.
Atwater stated that it was regrettable that Hillsborough needed to be first, but added that “Now, let us export the good work of Tampa Bay and get this burden off the back of all Floridians.”
Hillsborough County had gone several years as the state with the highest number of staged automobile accidents every year, but it has now come down to the second spot. Across the country, two of Florida’s cities are in the top three spots, with Miami in second place nationwide and Hillsborough County in third. Brooklyn, New York holds the highest position.
Officials have been crediting Hillsborough’s decrease in fraud cases to their efforts to fight PIP fraud over the last couple of years.
There have been more than 123 arrests in PIP fraud cases, and over 150 criminal charges have been issued by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Over the last 15 months alone, the investigators have looked into 273 different cases.
