Tampa police Department noticing lower crime rates in the city

TPD notices lower crime rates

Briona Arradondo reports

TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Police Department is celebrating a win Wednesday, as the police chief said crime is trending down in the city.

"The first half of the year we’re seeing our crime that’s dipping down. Total crime is down 10%. Our violent crime with a firearm is down 11%," said Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw.

Bercaw said that’s from January to June of this year compared to the same time frame last year. Grand theft auto dropped nearly 30% and car burglaries went down 22%, Bercaw said.

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"Sometimes those percentages don’t mean much, but that 22% in the auto burglaries, that’s almost 200 less cars that were broken into," Bercaw said.

The chief said community policing efforts are paying off, from town hall meetings to neighborhood watch groups and chats on the front porch.

"I think that brings the community together, and they feel more comfortable speaking with us. In fact, we have a town hall coming up in Ybor, and I think that’s important," said Bercaw.

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

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"We’re starting to see more parents are coming out to these town halls," said Barton, the executive director of Safe and Sound Hillsborough. "We’re starting to see more youth are attending the town halls. We’re encouraging the kids that we work with to participate."

Barton said he’s glad to see numbers are down.

"When we see the auto burglaries are down, that also means kids aren’t breaking into cars and getting their hands on firearms," he said.

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

"Even though the numbers are down, we’re seeing the ages of the kids getting in trouble is lower too. So, we’re seeing kids as young as 10, 11, 12 years old still getting in trouble and committing some of these offenses," Barton said.

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Tampa police also want to deter crimes among juveniles as well as adults.

"Even though we’re seeing decline of violent crime with a firearm, 11%, it doesn’t mean it’s not still on top of our list. Nobody wants to be a victim of a crime, especially for violent crime. We always have to pay close attention to that," said Bercaw. "We’re 1,000 police officers, and there’s 400,000 residents. Everybody working together is what brings crime down, and we have to continue that, especially with violent crime."

So as their officers are out, Tampa police said they also want the community to stay vigilant for any crime.

"It’s just paying attention to the small things before they become big things," said Bercaw.

Bercaw said Tampa police are also seeing fewer guns stolen out of cars, and that tells him people are listening to their pleas to lock up firearms and lock car doors.

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