“Buckling up is still the most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries from motor vehicle crashes on our roadways,” says Sgt. Bogue who coordinated the check.. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children age 4 to 14, and in the year 2000 more than half of all children under 15 years of age who were killed in car crashes were completely unrestrained.
Child safety seat and vehicle manufacturers’ instructions are often difficult to read. In addition, most children who outgrow their forward facing child safety seats, at about 40 pounds, are often prematurely placed in adult safety belts.
When a child outgrows a forward facing safety seat, they should use a booster seat until at least 8 years old or four feet nine inches tall. A booster seat raises a child to allow the vehicle’s safety belt to be positioned correctly.
Periodically throughout the year child safety seat checks like this one are held where specially trained officers will check the installation and safety of your child’s safety seat FREE OF CHARGE. Sgt. Bogue also offers the service of a Fitting Station on appointment, where parents or caregivers can come and have their child’s seat checked for proper installation. Child Seats are also available to parents or caregivers who are receiving Public Assistance or have a significant financial hardship and cannot afford to purchase a seat at a retail establishment. For any questions regarding Child Safety Seats contact Sgt. Bogue at (305) 853-7021. Child Safety Seat (CSS) Non-Negotiables
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The City of Marathon and Sector 5:Deputies receive
honors; Community policing course offered
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Deputy Louis Rivera received the Sheriff's Medal of Valor from Sheriff Roth and Captain Bob Peryam |
On February 7th, the Sheriff awarded Marathon Deputy Louis Rivera the Sheriff’s Medal of Valor for his actions in the arrest of a suspect in a shooting in Key West that he witnessed off duty. Marathon Deputy Dennis Coleman was also honored at the same ceremony as Deputy of the Quarter for last quarter. Many community residents attended the awards ceremony to congratulate these officers for their commitment to duty in this community.
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Deputy Jen Lascala with Officer Frank Blastberg, KWPD and FHP at a recent Child Seat Safety Check Station |
Marathon Deputy Jen Lascala, the Marathon Station Child Seat Safety Program Coordinator, supervised two Child Seat Safety Checkpoints in February, one in Marathon and the other assisting the Key West Police Department. Combined, they checked and adjusted 76 seats in vehicles in the two days. She can be contacted with any concerns for your child’s safety seat by calling 289-2430. She can answer any questions you have or help you install or adjust your present child safety seat. Deputy Lascala is an AAA Certified Child Safety Seat Technician. Remember, nothing can be more honorable than safeguarding our children.
We are currently filling three two-day classes offered by St. Petersburg College and the Southeastern Public Safety Institute. These are two-day classes on the Introduction to Community Policing. These classes are open to the public and we would like your presence and input. The classes are free of charge. The instructor is Sergeant Jake Walker with the Collier County Sheriff's Office. The course covers: Police-Community Partnerships, Introduction to Problem Solving Policing, Problem Solving Practical Exercises, Action Planning, Crime Prevention and Community Policing Resource Development. Class hours are 8AM to 5 PM. The classes are March 3rd and 4th or March 5th and 6th at KCB City Hall or you can attend March 7th and 8th at the Marathon Government Center. You must reserve seating, the classes are capped at 30 persons. Call Sergeant Dennis Cain at 289-2430 immediately for reservations.
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We started a new team last month in Marathon. Two Marathon Deputies were sent to Bradenton for Police Mountain Bike School. Deputies Louis Rivera, Iscandel Perez and Chuck Kellenberger currently make up what has been tagged as the “BOB” squad. The name has nothing to do with our District Commander but actually stands for “Boyz On Bikes”. Since January 14th (just a little over one month) the team has produced seven felony arrests (one armed car jacking fugitive) 13 misdemeanor arrests, seized 26 grams of cocaine and an additional 7 rocks of crack and have several outstanding drug cases under investigation. They have put in well over 100 miles of bike patrol in town so far. They have also spent numerous hours on wave-runner patrol in the near-shore waters of Marathon and have issued several boating safety warnings. They also have more land and water operations planned for the near future. They are out there in the community almost every evening and night. Call Sergeant Dennis Cain at 289-2430 if you have any concerns you think they can address in your neighborhood.
The Florida Department of Transportation has begun efforts to build a Community Traffic Safety Team in Marathon. Membership includes local law enforcement, engineers, emergency services and education professionals as wells as community leaders and citizens. Community members are encouraged to join the team and voice their ideas at the monthly meetings. If you are interested in joining the team or just attending a meeting please contact Lieutenant Larry Kelley at the Marathon Station at 289-2430. We currently meet at the Marathon DOT building conference room at 2 PM on the 3rd Thursday of each month.
We are committed to partnering with you to fight crime. Help us to help you. Remember that you are the most important crime fighter in your home. While you are away on vacation or during any extended time away from your residence in the Keys:
Have good locks on all doors and windows and USE THEM!
Ask a neighbor to watch the house while you are away. It’s a good idea to leave your vacation address and telephone number with a neighbor so you can be reached in case of an emergency.
Never leave your house key hidden outside your home.
Stop all deliveries, or arrange for a neighbor to pick up your mail, newspapers and packages.
Arrange for someone to mow your lawn, rake leaves and maintain the yard to give the home a lived-in look.
Plug in timers to turn lights, a radio or television on and off at appropriate times. This helps to disguise the fact that you are away.
Turn the bell or ringer on your telephone off or at least down low. If a burglar is around, he won’t be alerted to your absence by a ringing phone.
Don’t announce your absence on answering machine messages.
Leave your blinds, shades and curtains in the normal position. Don’t close them unless that is what you do when you are at home. Of course, put up storm shutters if you will be away during hurricane season, unless you are confident a neighbor or other friend will be doing that for you in the event of a storm.
Close and lock garage doors and windows. Ask a neighbor to occasionally park in your driveway. If you leave your car at home, park it as you normally would. Vehicles parked outside should be moved occasionally to appear that they are being used.
Secure storage sheds, attic entrances and gates.
Contact the Sheriff’s Office, Marathon Station at 289-2430 to arrange a vacation watch for your residence. Vacation watches are also available in other areas of the County. Contact your local Sheriff's Office substation for more information.
Engrave you valuables. Use your driver’s license number and not your social security number. We have ready access to driver’s licenses. This simple step will allow your stolen property to be identified and returned to you if recovered by deputies.
Travel Safely!
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is always ready to serve your needs 24 hours a day. Call me (Captain Bob Peryam) at the Marathon Station if you want to talk about concerns you may have about crime, traffic, current events or anything at all.
Communications/Dispatch:Tips from your friendly
neighborhood Sheriff's Office Dispatchers Here are a few tips from the Sheriff's Office Communications Division to help you make your home easier to find in an emergency. House Numbers: Everyone should make sure they have large, clear house numbers on their homes. Make sure the numbers are large enough to be seen from the road and that nothing obstructs them from being seen by a car driving by on the street. Know your complete street address: Street names in Monroe County are duplicated throughout the Keys; from Key Largo to Key West. For instance, there are three Buttonwood Drive's in Key Largo, all within a one mile radius of one another. Their are also Buttonwood Drive's in Big Pine Key and in Sugarloaf Key. If you call the Sheriff's Office and tell the person answering the phone that you live on Buttonwood in Key Largo, it's going to be very difficult to find you. Not only are their five Buttonwood Drives in Monroe County, we also have Buttonwood Bight, Buttonwood Avenue's, Buttonwood Circle's and Buttonwood Lane's. So you can see why it is very important you know your complete street address. It is also helpful to know what sub-division you live in and the mile marker of the highway that you live closest to, as well as whether your house is on the gulf side or ocean side of the highway. Know how to describe your house location: If you do call the Sheriff's Office for assistance, there is additional information you can provide that would make it easier for police or rescue to locate your home.
Take a few minutes now and go over the above questions. It will save time if police or rescue are ever sent to your home. |
Special Investigations Division:Burglary sting catches business burglar The Sheriff's Special Investigations Division is a wide ranging division covering many types of investigative units, including narcotics investigators, homicide investigators, investigators who specialize in crimes against women and children, traffic enforcement officers, and general case detectives who work many types of different cases county-wide. All of them are hard working and believe in what they do - their work affects the lives of many Monroe County citizens on a daily basis, both visibly and behind the scenes. This month, one of our outstanding investigative operations involved our detectives in the upper Keys area who organized an extremely successful burglary sting operation with the full cooperation of the business owner who was the intended target. The investigators had received information that a teenager was going to break into Boater's World in Key Largo. They arranged to be waiting inside the business that night, with the back door unlocked and the alarm turned off. When the would-be burglar entered the business, they arrested him for burglary and attempted theft. Teamwork and cooperation between law enforcement and a citizen helped prevent a crime from taking place. My special thanks go out to Detective Dillon Corr, along with the rest of the upper Keys gang for their hard work on this case. I want to use this example to suggest that everyone step back and take a look at their involvement with the safety and security of our County. Without the tip, or information, which let detectives know this crime was going to occur and without the cooperation of the business owner, we could not have done our job and prevented this crime. If you hear anything which leads you to believe a crime might happen, I hope you also will pick up the phone and call the Sheriff's Office to report the information. You can call Sheriff's Office dispatchers with the information at 289-2401 or, if you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers of the Florida Keys at 1-800-346-TIPS. Either way, we will follow up your tip and you may be helping to prevent a crime. |
General NewsSheriff's Office participates in Turkey Point DrillThe Sheriff's Office and Monroe County Emergency Management, along with many other County divisions from Public Safety to Public Works, participated in a Turkey Point Nuclear Plant drill in February. The drill, evaluated this year by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was a successful one. The drill is designed to test the County's readiness to respond in the event that there is an emergency at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located in southeastern Dade County, just a few miles from the Ocean Reef Club and Card Sound Road, the two areas which would most likely be effected should there ever be a release of radiation from the plant. Drills such as this one are held yearly, with evaluated drills taking place every other year. Representatives from Monroe County Emergency Management and the Sheriff's Office are present during the drill at both FPL's headquarters building in Miami, and staffing the Emergency Operations Center in Key Largo. From those two locations, decisions are made about how to respond to the simulated emergency and simulated news releases and press conferences are held to practice notifying the public about the events. Also present at the drill are FPL representatives, representatives from Miami-Dade County, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (during the evaluated drills) and representatives from the State of Florida. All the agencies practice coordinating their responses to the simulated emergency. Although the possibility of such an emergency occurring is not likely, everyone must be prepared just in case. Residents of Monroe County who live in areas which could be effected, Ocean Reef, Card Sound Road and, possibly, those living on State Road 905, should be aware they are living in the vicinity of a Nuclear Power Plant. FPL mails out a special booklet which warns residents of the possibility of , and gives them detailed information about how they can keep themselves and their families safe in such an emergency. For more information, or to obtain a booklet, you can contact FPL at 305-442-8770 or contact Monroe County Emergency Management at 305-289-6018. Crime up slightly in 2002According to numbers compiled by our Crime Analysis Unit, for the first time in 12 years crime rose slightly in Monroe County. Monroe County's biggest increases were in thefts of personal property, including thefts of motor vehicle parts and general theft. The Sheriff's Office has been seeing many thefts of boat motors and boat motor parts in the past year, and this trend has certainly affected the numbers. On a positive note, the County did see a considerable decrease in burglaries, rapes, shoplifting cases, and theft from automobiles. People are becoming more conscious of ways they can keep themselves safer and make their homes and cars more secure. The only way the Sheriff's Office can do its job adequately is with the help of the public: if you do everything you can to make yourself, your family and your belongings less of a target, it will give the criminals out there less of an opportunity to make you a victim. The Florida Department of Law
Enforcement tracks Major Crimes in the State and the
Monroe County Sheriff's Office is required to report the
numbers of these crimes on a monthly and yearly basis.
Below are the crime statistics we have reported to FDLE
for 2002. If you would like to view crime statistics month
by month, you can do so by visiting our
Crime
Statistics web pages. |
| Type of Crime | 2002 | 2001 |
| HOMICIDE | 2 | 1 |
| MANSLAUGHTER | 0 | 0 |
| FORCE RAPE | 11 | 28 |
| FORCE SODOMY | 1 | 0 |
| FORCE FONDLING | 30 | 19 |
| ROBBERY | 33 | 44 |
| AGGRAVATED ASSAULT | 207 | 213 |
| AGGRAVATED STALKING | 7 | 7 |
| BURGLARY | 468 | 505 |
| POCKET PICKING | 1 | 4 |
| PURSE SNATCHING | 3 | 0 |
| SHOPLIFTING | 151 | 212 |
| THEFT FROM MOTOR VEHICLE | 366 | 403 |
| THEFT OF MOTOR VEHICLE PARTS | 305 | 213 |
| THEFT OF BICYCLE | 148 | 152 |
| THEFT FROM BUILDING | 329 | 324 |
| THEFT COIN OPERATED VENDING MACHINE | 9 | 16 |
| ALL OTHER LARCENY | 764 | 611 |
| AUTO THEFT | 151 | 150 |
| SIMPLE ASSAULT | 1053 | 1062 |
| SIMPLE STALKING | 19 | 5 |
| INTIMIDATE | 1 | 20 |
| ARSON | 8 | 2 |
| TOTALS | 4067 | 3991 |
New Program reduces recidivism:
Shoplifters Alternative
The Sheriff's Office, through our Juvenile Diversion Civil Citation Program, provides an educational opportunity to Juvenile retail theft offenders designed to stop them from re-offending. The Program is Shoplifters Alternative. According to Shoplifters Alternative, the Courts and Diversion programs utilizing their educational material have a documented recidivism rate of less than 3% nationally.
When a child is apprehended for shoplifting the retailer can request that the Sheriff’s Deputy or other law enforcement officer issue a Civil Citation rather than make an arrest. Under this alternative program, the retailer does not need to make a court appearance. Issuance of the Civil Citation by Law Enforcement sets in motion a process that brings the child to Shoplifters Alternative in a short time.
Everyone benefits! Law enforcement benefits the Civil Citation alternative allows the responding officer to quickly return to patrol activities. The Juvenile Court system benefits because cases are diverted from the court, thereby reducing its caseload and allowing the Court to turn its attention to other delinquent activity. And finally, the retailer benefits: rather than simply releasing the juvenile shoplifter with a warning that often falls on deaf ears, a significant step is taken to solve the problem of shoplifting and keep the juvenile offender from committing future crimes.
Remember, when you release a seemingly contrite youth without significant consequence, your generosity may only reinforce a myth. When the threat fades most youthful shoplifters will embrace the myth sustaining continuance of the shoplifting behavior: “I can always talk my way out of it….”
If you have any questions about the program please contact the Monroe County Sheriff’s Juvenile Diversion Program’s Case Managers. Click their names to send email, or call them at the following numbers: Karol Cotton in the Lower Keys at 292-7130 or Craig Johnson in the Middle and Upper Keys at 853-3211.
To learn more about our Juvenile Diversion programs, including IDDS, Teen Court and the Civil Citation Program, visit our Juvenile Diversion web page.
Fundraiser is legitimate
With all of the fraudulent practices of fundraising organizations in the news, Sheriff Roth would like residents to know that the letters going out under his name on behalf of the Florida Sheriffs Association are legitimate.
There are a number of organizations that have formed in recent years with similar-sounding names, but Sheriff Roth warns citizens to be wary of them, especially when they use high-pressure telemarketing tactics.
"The Florida Sheriffs Association is not only an honorable organization to support, it directly impacts public safety in this county," Sheriff Roth said. "FSA provides specialized training, special task forces and legislative and legal services that we wouldn't have access to otherwise." He says that because FSA unites the efforts of all Sheriffs' Offices in the state, citizens enjoy a significant cost savings for better quality policing.
All fundraising by the FSA is done through U.S. Mail. FSA adamantly opposes the use of telemarketers in promoting membership and does not sell or rent their membership list to outside organizations or companies.
If you receive a telephone solicitation from anyone claiming to be from the Florida Sheriffs Association – please be aware that this is a fraudulent call. Report it immediately by calling: 1-800-877-2168, or sending an e-mail to: information@flsheriffs.org.
Residents who do not receive a letter from the Sheriff on behalf of the Florida Sheriffs Association, may show their support of local law enforcement by mailing their name, address and a $20 check to: Membership, Florida Sheriffs Association, P.O. Box 12519, Tallahassee, FL 32317-2519. For further background, you may also visit the Florida Sheriffs Association web site: www.flsheriffs.org.
The Florida Sheriffs Association is a private, not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation made up of the 67 Sheriffs of Florida, business leaders and citizens throughout the state. Its headquarters are in Tallahassee, Florida. For more information, contact FSA at: 850-877-2165.
Special Events and Announcements:
- The Sheriff's Office will be hosting it's annual Easter Celebration at the Stock Island Children's Animal Farm on Sunday, April the 6th, from 2pm until 4pm. Mark the date on your calendar and plan to bring the family for a visit with all the animals, as well as the Easter Bunny!
- The Sheriff's Office will hold it's annual Employee of the Year Ceremony Friday, March 21st, at 2 p.m. at the Marathon Government Center. The ceremony will honor those employees chosen as the most exemplary in five separate categories: Sworn Law Enforcement, Sworn Corrections, Reserve Deputy, Cadet/Explorer and Support. The public is welcome to attend!
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We have received the following notice from the Florida Department of Transportation. There may be traffic delays and/or slowdowns due to this work:
The lanes on the Overseas
Highway at Tom’s Harbor Channel (mile marker 60.1) will be shifted
weekdays, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, March 3, 2003 through April 4, 2003.
Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority crews will be performing utility work.
Crime Prevention Tip of the Month:
Bicyclists must also obey other traffic signs and lights. A bicycle must come to a full stop at stop signs, and must stop at red lights until the light turns green. When a bicyclist is stopped at a stop sign or traffic light, he or she must wait in line with all the other vehicles that are stopped. Passing cars on the right hand side and riding to the front of the line is against the law. Bicycles, like cars, must yield the right of way to pedestrians in cross walks. If a bicyclist rides on the side walk, he or she must yield to pedestrians, and must give an audible warning signal when approaching from behind. Two people may not ride on a bicycle, unless the bike is made to carry two people. An adult may carry a small child in a backpack or sling or in a child seat properly fixed to the frame of the bicycle. After sunset, a bicyclist is required to have a white headlight on the front, visible from a distance of 500 feet. The bicycle must also have a red taillight or reflector visible from 600 feet away. Hand held flashlights do not count as headlights under the law. Wear that Bike Helmet!The Sheriff’s Office would like to remind you that beginning January 1st, 1998 law enforcement officers in Monroe County started issuing non moving traffic citations to bicycle riders and passengers under 16 years of age who are not wearing properly fitted and secured bicycle helmets meeting nationally recognized standards. This includes children riding in a trailer or semi-trailer attached to a bicycle. The law also prohibits a bicycle from carrying more people than it was designed to carry. Passengers under four years old, weighing 40 pounds or less, must be secured in a carrier designed to hold a child that age and size to protect the child from moving. Some other points to remember while riding a bike:
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