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Sheriff: Crime rate down
Overall numbers decline by nearly 9 percent
Though it may seem like criminals are ending the year with high activity, crime in Citrus County declined in 2011.
Except for two categories — homicides and auto thefts — overall crime numbers dropped nearly 9 percent compared to 2010, Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said.
“We are pleased with the downward trend,” Dawsy told the Chronicle Editorial Board. “It took a lot of hardworking people to make these numbers possible.”
He said the sheriff’s office is working to better educate the public about the importance of locking vehicles and tweaking their crime prevention strategies.
To highlight that message, the sheriff’s office has unfurled “Lock out Crime” banners at many shopping center parking lots during this holiday season as a deterrent to vehicle burglaries and other crimes. The banners read: Don’t be a victim. Lock your doors!”
On the sheriff’s office’s website, residents are urged to keep crime at bay by keeping it as simple as 1, 2, 3.
1. Lock up. Lock your car doors and keep them locked at all times — even when your car is sitting in the driveway. Lock your home and keep your garage doors shut.
2. Secure it. Hide items left in your car — or better yet, keep those items in your trunk. Don’t leave valuables, such as bikes or golf clubs, in plain view. Keep household valuables in a safe place.
3. Be a good neighbor. Watch out for others and share the simple steps with them. Let neighbors know if they’ve left something valuable outside or if they’ve accidentally left their garage door open.
The recent rash of robberies, home invasions and other crimes belie the actual crime figures for Citrus County, according to preliminary numbers from the sheriff’s office’s crime analysis report.
Through the week ending Dec. 19, five homicides happened in the county in 2011 compared to four in 2010. Auto thefts also jumped from 49 cases in 2010 to 55 in 2011.
But robberies decreased from 31 in 2010 to 27 in 2011; residential burglaries went from 570 in 2010 to 562 in 2011; conveyance burglaries went from 348 to 263 and sex offenses dipped from 41 to 33. Commercial burglaries also went from 98 cases in 2010 to 92 in 2011.
Chronicle reporter A.B. Sidibe can be reached at 352-564-2925 or at asidibe@chronicleonline.com.
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Crime Rate Down
Apparently Amazed2 has never heard of three simple letters "UCR". That stands for Uniform Crime Reporting. Regardless of what a report is titled UCR requires the information sent to Florida Department of Law Enforcement based upon the UCR classification not what the report is titled. In addition, it's not uncommon for a report to be classified as one thing initially such as "Missing Person" and then reclassified when the person is located and found to be a victim of foul play. If Amazed2 would take the time to attend the "Citizen's Academy" the sheriff's office has, he might understand these things. That's right, maybe you don't qualify.
Lots of excuses are being made by worried politicians
I don't qualify for the citizens acadamy because of what? Would you prefer a case being investigated or thrown on a shelf and ignored if it were your child or your home burglarised? Are we supposed to be policing ourselves? Bringing are own evidence forward, making video tapes of the criminals?
You all seem like a bunch of worried CCSO employees, Captains and Admistrators and spouses who think the GRAVY TRAIN is about to end. Most of the road patrol knows the real truth how and what goes on. Except for the young boys who drink the cool-aid.
Which is It?
We have Brealistic saying we don't need law enforcement in Citrus. We have Amazed2 stating he has reported felonies in progress, knows many people who have been burglarized etc. First off Amazed 2, where do you live? You just seem to be surrounded by crime. As stated in a post, if you in anyway comment in favor of the CCSO, you are either a deputy or Brealistic will accuse you of sleeping with one. I do not think the CCSO is perfect or any other organization is. However, when you see the same posters with absolutely nothing good to say. Accusing men and women who they do not know of all types of things, I believe these people have found themselves on the wrong side of the law more than once, and just did not like the outcome. Here is a clue for both of you, move because Dawsy is not going anywhere. So you might want to get realistic to that fact and Amazed 2, can't take you serious when you did not even have the ability to come up with an original screen name!
Crime is happening in all neighborhoods
There are many deputies I know personally and they are great guys, they don't have anything nice to say about working at CCSO I will tell you that. I am not trashing law enforcement, that is a ill misconception you have of me. The law enforcement officers employed here cannot help the philososphy and methods employed and used here. The ones who speak up days are numbered.
Several deputies have lost their jobs who have come from larger agencies with many years of experience because they would not go along with the Micky Mouse ways. As soon as they make a little mistake out! At least seven that I know of.
I voted for Dawsey in the past elections and will not do it any longer.
Here are my personal reasons:
1. The unptofessional way I was treated when I needed their services.
2. The way my friend was treated when her daughter was murdered, changing it to a missing person. Unbelivable!!! If I explained the manner of her death, you would flip if that were your child and CCSO stopped investigating.
3. The play downs with the criminal reports which was done to me and a high number of other folks. Enough of this already.
You call this low crime rate, I call it MISLEADING........
For 9 years straight, the crime rate has gone down and twice a year Sheriff Dawsy comes out and tells us how low the crime rate is, in Citrus County. However, Sheriff Dawsy fails to allow officers to file criminal reports and complaints. Sheriff Dawsy and the Chronicle seem to have something in common. They like to hide the real truth! Isn't that right Mr. Gerry Mulligan or Sheriff Dawsy? Which one would like to stand up and tell us the truth? Nevermind, sit back down & shut up because both of you don't know a damn thing about telling the public the truth about anything! Sheriff's website and the Chronicle have not made mention of the home invasion on 12/8, yet! Why? Are we hiding something guys? How about an update on the Floral City Bank heist? Must be hiding something on that story, too, huh? Please, your investigators can't put it together because they're too busy getting drunk, holding knives to each others throats, and driving around town drunk, even shooting little puppy dogs. Internal affairs might not have the balls to stand up to you 2 but, I do! I'm going keep telling everyone like it is and not mislead them with figures and facts that I personally falsify like you guys. How much more dirt do we have to uncover for others to realize we are being fed a bunch of BS and we are tired of your lies! This whole county is corrupt, with the BOCC, CCSO, and the Chronicle as leaders in this division!
Brealistic
JustAmazed Has it Nailed
Submitted by JustAmazed on Sat, 12/24/2011 - 7:58am.
We have no worries when it comes to people like poster BRealistic, whose real name is Paul Gugelman, because he is a convicted felon. Go to the CCSO public info page and look up his mug shot, he is really an odd looking duck. Kinda hard to get a LEO certification for a felon, dontchaknow? Can you just imagine a convicted felon walking around in CCSO green and carrying a gun!? Hehehe. Now for sure he will sit down at the keyboard and draft up another two page rant about CCSO and yours truly. I just love to read his twisted crud and get a good laugh on early in the morning!
I concluded long ago that BUnrealistic is nothing less than a hate monger with regard to the CCSO, so anytime there is anything Positive or Negative written about the CCSO Immediately BUnrealistic is here to spew his venom.
NOBODY THAT I KNOW OF WHO POSTS ON THE FORUM TAKES THIS MORON SERIOUSLY!Google this clown and look at the mug Shot and what he was Charged with, that will tell you all you need to know about BUnrealistic and his constant assaults on the CCSO.
Misleading Statistics
Crime rate keeps going down every year for 9 years, then the crime rate in Citrus County should be ZERO. That means we have no need for law enforcement or a Sheriff, ya think? Why are we paying tax for law enforcement for if crime is so low? How come the tax rate keeps going up every year for law enforcement? If a residential complaint is called in, officers may show up in an hour or so. That's because crime is low and they have so much stuff to do! Dawsy's got em out chasing dogs and shooting innocent puppies. They cannot solve cases, they do NO real investigative work, hell these cops cannot even protect us! What the hell are we paying them to do? I guess harass us everyday! That's all they do & they do that very well. Stop shaking down business for free stuff, get in your patrol car and do something like your job because we sure don't see that going on everyday! KFC, Golden Corral, Sonny's BBQ, & Beef O'Brady's all have a visible rate of cops in their establishments routinely but, heck forget about community policing! Residential areas and talking with residents is out of the question! JustAmazed at the lack of competant management in law enforcement and JustAmazed at the idiots who decided to give the Sheriff more power with Animal control, DCF, and Safety! The idiots that did that should be fired immediately huh Damato, Meek, Bays, Webb, & Kennedy?
Brealistic
Boy I can't wait for you to
Boy I can't wait for you to run for sheriff and unveil your plan on how to make this county a better place.... Lol
Crime down
Bubba:
Reading your comments, one might think you are deputy. If you are, then your thinking is what is wrong with the Sheriff's Office. Of course we expect a deputy to write a report and call the crime as it is. After all that is what we are paying them for.
You are not paying deputies
You are not paying deputies to write the report you want, you are paying them to protect you and do their jobs. Is it so hard to believe that the sheriffs office is doing a good job which has led to lower crime? I would much rather have a deputy making arrests and patrolling than taking a report that has no enforceable action. Reports don't put criminals in jail, police work does. And of course you think I am a deputy, anyone who defends the sheriffs office is labeled as working for Jeff Dawsy around here! The bottom line is crime is lower and i'm glad.
Copy Fart
First you take a screen name that is a cheap rip off from me. Then you start posting dumb, lame comments with no documentation or references. And then you immediately call any detractor a CCSO deputy or employee, as if that were a bad thing. Who are you going to call when someone is beating down your front door and shooting at you? The Tooth Fairy?
Why in the hell do you attack the very people that make the effort to protect you? Do you give them praise when a scumbag is taken off the streets? No, you just keep on harping about nonsense. They make one mistake or do one thing that doesn't fit your perfect imagination of how things should be, and you start flapping your lips like a fish on the docks. HEY...are you F'n perfect??????
You sound like BRealistic with a new screen name to hide behind. Same lame stories, same loony damn accusations. No proof. No references, just the wild claim that "I know". Bullfarts.
Hey, I know of "lot's of people" that have had burglaries and are very happy that the scum were caught. I also know one or two people that make crap up just to get attention. Like you and BRealistic. And Citizen.
Why don't you just move to somewhere that you think is better?? Where would that be, Miami? New York? Just pack it in and GOOOOOO!
JustAmazed
Respect peoples rights to express their opions
When you see ANYONE and I mean ANYONE post anything negative against the CCSO you immediately verbally attack the poster. You are certainly highly motivated by someone to read the on line postings daily and immediately attact each negative post, even calling people names....
Let me tell you something, I have called the CCSO for felonies in progress and have got no reports and no returned phone calls, no investigations.... My friend lost his daughter to a murder which was titled a missing person case by your great CCSO so defend that. My neighbor got property stolen out of his boat parked in his back yard and because he did not have the serial numbers it was written up as information not a theft. Sorry that is still a theft. I have spoken to numerous people who have filed written complaints with the internal affairs which consists of Mike Richie, gotten no where. Also contacted the Attorney Gerneral's Office about the way their calls/crimes were not handled properly. And you think I am making this up, I am not running for politics nor could not care less.
I don't need to move out of here, I have been living here since the 60's and BR Quinn did a much better job back then. The current CCSO needs to clean it's act up and begin doing a better job serving the public, patrol the residential areas like they use to, take reports on all crimes not choose and pick which ones get a report.
Really, another low crime year or play downs? You decide...
I know personally a number of people who have tried to report burglaries to their homes and because they did not have an itemized list of stolen goods the deputy changed the report to information. What about the crime of a Peeping Tom-Prowler? The victim wakes up frightened to sounds at their window or door sees someome calls 9-11, the deputies respond and if the suspect is gone which before police arrive, instead of coming in and making a police report titling it "Prowler" the proper way to handle it which is a CRIME they change it to suspicious person which is not a crime or Information again no STAT reflection. Keep doing this all year and what happens, every year are STATS are low?
I have friends who live in Jacksonville and south Florida and they have been victims of crime and they say there is absolutely no comparison on how they were treated compared to this play down non-sense that goes on here in Citrus County, we do it to please the Realtors Association and Chamber of Commerce to make it appear that this is such a wonderful low crime area.
So you think that burglary
So you think that burglary reports with no property listed should be taken? Does that make much sense? How would you make an arrest on a theft case when the homeowner doesn't even know what was stolen?
And you think a deputy should take a report every time someone hears a noise outside their house? Lets think about that one. A report where the wind blows or their dog barks or they think they saw a shadow would take up a ton of time and serve no purpose. I highly doubt that any law enforcement agency in the country takes reports for "I heard a noise" calls.
I don't think you understood a word I wrote
I know of a number of county residents who have had their homes burglarised, items stolen and only because they did not have the serial numbers the calls were not written up as "BURGLARY OF A DWELLING" not information.
I was referring to actual prowler calls where people were seen not wind chimes and you can play stupid with you remarks the deputies do the same, maybe you are one of them. They are experts with these type of remarks instead of calling a man coming into a window a prowler or a man in your back porch a prowler, they are not information reports they are criminal acts it's called "LOITERING AND PROWLING" not information or suspicious person. They do it so the STATS stay low and no crimes are reported on the books.
Rate of Crime In Citrus
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcements website, Citrus Counties overall crime rate has been increasing year after year at rates such as 11.4 percent in 2007, 9.0 percent in 2010 and so on.
(see link http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/08a2f5b9-d6f2-4b20-9d24-0ac99... )
Soooooo, does this mean the criminals are having an off year or has something changed with our law enforcement that has helped curb these rates?
I did see quite a few police cars cruising shopping center parking lots through the holiday shopping blitz, for that I was thankful.
JeffJ