How We Roll
I was just pulling into the station when I heard the call go out. A child was trapped under a car. This type of call flicks a switch. Within a few minutes Community Service Officer Ernie Bucinskas,...
View ArticleThe Many Faces of Distracted Driving
The proliferation of portable electronic devices has many of us thinking about how technology has influenced driving habits. It’s easy these days to forget some of the more traditional distractions. A...
View ArticleTop Ten Holiday List
Our folks in the Crime Prevention Unit put together some valuable tips for a more enjoyable holiday season. Here are some points to ponder:Minimize the amount of cash and the number of debit or credit...
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How to Save a Life
As far as “life saving” events go, it was fairly quick and simple, seemingly routine. Officer Tony Rumph (pictured with me below) was enjoying a break at the station when one of our clerks, Grace Rosa,...
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Cops and Speed
Yesterday, the Sun-Sentinel started a three-part series on cops and speed. This type of investigative reporting is nothing new. From time-to-time, media outlets will follow officers and videotape them....
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Crime in 2011
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) offenses increased by slightly more than 6% last year in Boca Raton. This increase follows three straight years of declining percentages, 18% in 2010, 4.6% in 2009 and...
View ArticleAccreditation
I can’t say that most people in law enforcement get real excited about accreditation. However, it is very important to us and our community. We recently received our sixth accreditation award, with...
View ArticleFind my iPhone?
Last week, there was quite a bit of chatter over a chief who supposedly deployed a team of detectives to recover his son's stolen iPhone. I'm not going to comment on how the department handled the...
View ArticleResidents Connected, Stepping Up
Over the past month or so, we have publicized our efforts to address a dramatic increase in burglaries. We have seen some positive results and have profiled many of our arrests on our website.Lynn...
View ArticleRunning Red Lights
Across the country, and in Boca Raton, there has been much debate about red light cameras. Since the program started here in May, we have processed thousands of violations. A picture (or video) is...
View ArticleNumber Crunching
While the exact source may be in dispute, Mark Twain popularized the phrase, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” It’s an effective way to communicate the reality that...
View ArticleLet's go to the tape
A local news station called us yesterday to report on the red light camera issue and ran a piece on a specific violation. I've included the segment below.For the moment, let's set aside our biases for...
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Colorado and Covey
Mass casualty incidents, such as the Aurora tragedy, logically cause us to wonder what could have been done, and then what should we do. I guess Steven Covey's recent passing got me thinking of this...
View ArticleWhat's in a name?
A "Boca Raton" mailing address can be misleading. At least once a day, we find ourselves sending customers to another service provider, primarily because a complainant's issue originated outside of...
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Halftime 2012
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) offenses increased by approximately 7% in the first half of 2012. Violent crime was down 5% and property crime rose by 8%. The following charts describe the six month...
View ArticleOfficer Involved Shootings: What comes next?
Officer involved shootings are very traumatic and complex incidents. From the outset, there are so many questions and seemingly very few answers. The media will say that we are being “tight-lipped” or...
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Crime Down in 2012
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) offenses decreased by nearly 5% last year in Boca Raton. Crime has decreased four times in the last five years, -18% in 2010, -4.6% in 2009 and -5.7% in 2008. The...
View ArticleZimmerman
I'm still recovering from the Zimmerman trial hangover. Many people have asked me about this case and there is considerable disagreement about the outcome, even in law enforcement circles. I did not...
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It's all fun and games until…
It's probably not surprising to you that I favored the police officer costume when I was a kid. Superman was a close second.As evidenced by the attendance at Comic Con and the success of films...
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Halftime Crime 2013
It’s that time of year. We have recently submitted our report of Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) offenses for the first half of 2013.As I have mentioned before, it is difficult to draw any meaningful...
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