HOLMES BEACH – Speaking to a full house, police officials discussed the city’s recent increase in burglaries, ways residents could help police and programs available to deter crime at Thursday’s crime prevention forum.
“We are by no means sheltered from the criminal element,” Chief Jay Romine stressed. “You live in a nice area with nice houses, cars, stuff. Criminals don’t want junk; they’re going to target people like you.
“We want you to do everything you can to protect yourself and your property and help us. We have 14 officers, counting the three of us, to protect 5,000 people. We need you to be nosy and call us when you see something out of the ordinary.”
Romine said the recent increase in car, residential and business burglaries is not unique to the city. It’s happening all over the country as a result of the economic situation, when people become desperate after losing their jobs, or is tied to illegal drug use.
“Ninety percent of the cars burglarized are unlocked,” he pointed out. “Kids start at one end of the street and work their way down the road and check which cars are unlocked. It’s amazing what people leave in their vehicles – GPS units, guns, laptops, radar detectors – and don’t lock them.”
Programs to prevent crime
Lt. Dale Stephenson detailed some of the programs available to residents and business owners to help prevent crime.
“We have a house check program,” he said. “If you go on vacation or go away during the summer, you can come to the police department and sign up, and periodically an officer will walk around your house and make sure all the windows are closed, your doors are locked and there’s no problems.”
Another is the business trespass program in which a business owner can sign up to have police cite trespassers after hours. A third is the night eyes program in which an officer checks businesses during the night and leaves a card to let the owner know it was checked and secure. This requires no response from the business owner.
Stephenson said police also will help residents set up telephone trees or Neighborhood Watch programs and added, “When somebody’s going to commit a crime, they’re going to do things the easiest way. Every roadblock that you can put up makes you safer – motion sensor lights, keeping bushes away from windows, locking your doors.
“When you’re not in the area, tell your neighbor and not just your neighbor on the left or right, but a neighbor across the canal. Some of these burglaries were sliding glass door, back door entries.”
Romine recommended installing an alarm system because “there’s no better means of self assurance. They’re not that expensive and they give you tremendous peace of mind. The department’s average response time to an alarm is two and a half minutes.”
He suggested that people sign up for a ride along with an officer at night to see what he does and said people also could sign up for a house security check.
Property recovered
Det. Mike Leonard said there have been 36 arrests since June, when the upswing in burglaries began, and police have recovered and returned television sets, laptops, iPods, guns, GPS units, and gaming systems. He said the department’s patrol officers have been particularly diligent in collecting evidence to help solve the crimes.
“We are working with the Sheriff’s Office and Bradenton Beach Police,” he told the group. “There was a search warrant issued for a home in Bradenton Beach, and we recovered a lot of property from our vehicle burglaries.
“We have conducted several sweeps and sting operations, and you would not have recognize us if you would have seen us. We’re not just riding around in marked police cars.”
Law enforcement uses a system called Finder, a program in which pawnshops must send their receipts to the local sheriff’s office. The receipts are entered into a computer and it goes into a database, which local police departments can access.
Leonard said the problem comes when people do not record their serial numbers to show the item belongs to them and pointed out, “If you can’t positively identify it, there’s no way we can prove it’s yours. Jewelry – engrave it; put something on it that shows its yours.”
He said police also work with the Manatee County Crime Lab and Florida Department of Law Enforcement for evidence purposes.
Romine then told audience members that he conducted an experiment while they were listening to the presentations. His officers checked the vehicles in the parking lot and found most of them were unlocked. In plain view, they found GPS units, cell phones, digital camera, radar detectors, and gear bags.
‘You were here for a crime prevention lesson,” he stressed. “Lesson number one – lock your car! It only takes a second for someone to check your car, snatch what’s there and be gone.
“Holmes Beach seems small, but it’s not that small when you’re trying to protect everybody. We can’t be everywhere all the time. Do what you can to protect yourself.”
If you have a problem or emergency, dispatch is available 24 hours a day by calling 708-5804.
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