The department had seven chiefs in its first year of existence as the city council appointed inexperienced locals with little interest in the work.

The next year, the city was unable to meet payroll and issued letters of credit in lieu of salaries.

Between 1947 and 1951, United States senator Estes Kefauver and the Miami Herald highlighted local corruption and vice.

This led to increased pressure that drove the biggest operations to Las Vegas and nearby Cuba.

Officer Dewey Pressley is clearly heard on video to "draw little Disney here.." the report and as saying, "if I have to bend the rules to protect a cop I'm gonna."

[6] On April 10, 2012, Officer Joel Francisco was sentenced to ninety days in jail after he pleaded guilty in the original accident.

[10][11] In 2012, the department began to use computer software to call numbers on commercial signs left on roadsides in the city.

[2] According to a 2017 report by the county inspector general, "The lack of oversight and accountability facilitated the theft of $137,609 and 1,096 pills from the Hollywood Police Department's custody prior to January 2012," but nobody was held criminally liable as a result.

[14] Local news reported in February 2023 that footage from a surveillance camera that had been recently released shows Hollywood Police officers dragging a 69-year-old man they had shot into the victim's condominium's building's elevator.

It was also among the first to incorporate Community Service Officers to handle routine calls for service including the investigation of traffic accidents not involving criminal conduct thereby freeing up sworn officers to handle more important criminal calls.

The computerized records system also provided for standardized computerized probable cause affidavits that greatly improved the accuracy and legal merit of arrests by ensuring that all required elements of any charged crime were included in the arrest affidavit.

[18] One of the highlights of this reputation for a high degree of professionalism and technical competence was the fact that over ten ranking members of the department went on to become the chief of police at other law enforcement agencies, in some cases winning their jobs over well over one hundred other potential candidates for those jobs.