Tampa police find lower crime rates in city

TAMPA, Florida. – Tampa police are celebrating a success on Wednesday as the police chief said crime in the city is declining.

“Crime has gone down in the first half of the year. Overall crime has gone down by 10%. Violent crimes involving firearms have gone down by 11%,” said Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw.

Bercaw said that’s the period from January to June this year compared to the same period last year. Grand auto theft is down nearly 30 percent and auto break-ins are down 22 percent, Bercaw said.

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“Sometimes these percentages don’t mean much, but the 22% increase in car break-ins means that almost 200 fewer cars were broken into,” Bercaw said.

The police chief said community policing efforts are paying off, from town hall meetings to neighborhood watches and porch conversations.

“I think it brings the community together and makes them feel more comfortable talking to us. In fact, there’s going to be a town hall meeting in Ybor soon and I think that’s important,” Bercaw said.

That’s the same message Freddy Barton of Safe and Sound Hillsborough is sharing with families. He works with police and others to prevent violence in the community.

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“We’re seeing more and more parents coming to these town hall meetings,” said Barton, executive director of Safe and Sound Hillsborough. “We’re seeing more and more youth coming to the town hall meetings. We encourage the kids we work with to attend.”

Barton said he was glad the numbers had gone down.

“If we see that the number of car break-ins is decreasing, that also means that children are no longer breaking into cars and getting hold of firearms,” ​​he said.

But now is not the time to let up, said Barton.

“Even though the numbers are going down, we’re finding that the age of kids getting into trouble is also lower. So we’re seeing kids as young as 10, 11 or 12 still getting into trouble and committing some of these crimes,” Barton said.

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In addition, the Tampa Police Department wants to prevent crime among youth and adults.

“Even though we have seen an 11% decrease in violent crime involving firearms, that doesn’t mean it’s not still at the top of our list. Nobody wants to be a victim of crime, especially violent crime. That’s something we have to be very mindful of at all times,” Bercaw said. “We are 1,000 police officers and 400,000 residents. Everyone working together is what drives crime down and we need to continue that, especially when it comes to violent crime.”

While their officers are on duty, Tampa Police continue to urge the public to remain vigilant for possible crimes.

“You just have to pay attention to the little things before they become big things,” Bercaw said.

Bercaw said Tampa police are also seeing fewer gun thefts from cars, which shows him people are listening to their requests to put away guns and lock car doors.

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