Pinecrest experienced an “alarming” sharp increase in burglaries and sex offenses in 2012, the village’s police chief said in his report Tuesday. Pinecrest also saw a slight increase in robberies and nonviolent thefts.
The village hasn’t had a homicide since 2006. But domestic violence calls went up 100 percent, narcotics violations went up 81 percent, and battery and assault incidents went up 20 percent last year, the chief said in his annual report.
Pinecrest Chief Samuel Ceballos Jr. also had good news. He said that after officers arrested “two groups of career criminals in the last quarter of 2012” there was a 50 percent decrease in burglaries this year. In general, however, crime statistics can fluctuate a great deal from year to year, especially in smaller communities with relatively small numbers.
“The emotional and psychological harm associated with victimization is not something that we take lightly,” Ceballos said at Tuesday’s Village Council meeting. “Our hearts go out to those who have fallen prey to criminals.”
Before becoming Pinecrest’s third police chief in July, Ceballos spent about 12 years with the village and 22 years with Hialeah police. He replaced former chief John Hohensee, who retired in April after 13 years of service.
On Tuesday, council members expressed satisfaction with Ceballos and his department. Dissatisfaction with Miami-Dade police was one of the reasons Pinecrest incorporated in 1996.
“We have heard and read in this report how our police department is growing and is getting more professional,” said Councilman James E. McDonald, a former FBI agent.
Ceballos’ new efforts include setting up a new police unit to focus on burglaries. The unit, he said, “has one main mission. That is detecting, deterring and arresting burglars.”
Ceballos also set up a new traffic unit in November, with four police officers and two fully equipped Harley Davidson motorcycles that cost the city $42,670. This means two officers are looking for traffic violators in the village during the morning and afternoon.
While, Hohensee was not supportive of having an officer working with a multi-agency federal task force, Ceballos is. The financial investment, McDonald said, would eventually pay off when the federal government solves a crime and the value of the seized property related to this crime would be divided among the departments involved.
“It’s time for us to do this,” McDonald said.
After about two years of training, the program would bring in a deputized federal officer to the village. Councilman Bob Ross has firmly opposed this effort, because it would cost the village at least $100,000 a year. The crimes that this officer would be focusing on are not in the village, Ross said, and there is no guarantee that there would eventually be a financial reward that would benefit the village.
The council voted 4-1 to allow the police to participate in the federal task force program.
“Crime doesn’t know boundaries,” Ceballos said. He added that the department has budgeted to hire the new deputized federal officer, and he will promote an officer from within the department, Ceballos said.
Mayor Cindy Lerner supports Ceballos’ effort, and praised him for his efforts to engage the community of about 18,000 in crime watch groups. She also said Ceballos’ use of technology allows residents to get immediate crime reports via a mobile phone application. The department also has a social media component.
“There are just so many ways that you are trying to make the contact and reach into the community and we are doing a better job,” Lerner said.
According to the chief’s report, his department, which employs 50 officers and 20 support staff, had three incidents of “serious misconduct” and five incidents of “misconduct” in the past year. Details of the incidents were not immediately available. But the report said there were five "citizen complaints" and two "internal affairs complaints" that resulted in "corrective action."
“We have to start looking at crime as something more global … crime whether it be drug trafficking, human trafficking … affects all of us,” Ceballos said. “These crimes affect our way of life and the federal government is telling us ‘without your help we are not going to be successful’ … We owe it to our country to help the federal agency.”
