INSIDE the Lakeland Police Department

Do The Right Thing Winners Announced

Today was the final quarterly ceremony of our Do the Right Thing awards program at LakelandPD. Three outstanding students were honored for their positive behavior and exceptional attitudes in school and in their community.

Our overall winner for this ceremony was Cameron Cole, a fifth grade student at Lincoln Academy. Cameron was nominated not only for his diligence in his school endeavors but also for his willingness to help others. Cameron assists with the Milken Work Festival cleaning the yards of elderly residents in our community and volunteering for VISTE by serving meals to the homeless.

Nicole Avila, a first grader at Rochelle School of the Arts, was nominated for her positive attitude and behavior in the classroom. Nicole was described as being always respectful of others, acts as a helper to her teacher, and always works hard to maintain her grades.

Daniel Williams, a third grade student at Blake Academy, was nominated for doing the right thing when he found some money laying on the ground of his school campus. Rather than keep the money himself, Daniel turned the money in with the hope that whoever lost it would be able to reclaim it. After no one inquired about the money, the school gave it to Daniel who promptly gave it to his mom to help with home expenses.

We congratulate the students honored today and want to extend a special thanks to their families for raising such wonderful children with the spirit of doing the right thing.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Presidents' Roundtable Honors LPD Officers of the Year

Two Lakeland Police officers were honored today during the 41st annual Presidents' Roundtable Public Safety Awards banquet.

Officer Jason Leggett was named Officer of the Year for his efforts to locate a homicide victim. Leggett received information from out of state that a suspect had made comments about killing a man in Lakeland. Based on the very limited information known at the time, Officer Leggett utilized a variety of investigative research methods to locate where the victim was found deceased. His initial efforts led to the subsequent arrest of the suspect.

Detective James O'Neill is our Detective of the Year and was awarded Honorable Mention for his investigative efforts into a reported fraud case that ultimately led to the seizure of additional drugs and money. Det. O'Neill is well known for the thoroughness of his fraud investigations. He relentlessly follows all leads and often creates more work for himself because one case generally leads to another and to another and so on.

 

We congratulate both Officer Leggett and Detective O'Neill for receiving their awards today and for their dedicated service to the community.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Stop on Red Cameras Ahead

Red-light running is an increasingly dangerous and costly problem that is plaguing the streets of our country. Lakeland has joined the ranks with other communities and will soon have a camera enforcement program designed to reduce the number of violations, crashes, and injuries caused by red-light running.

The objective is to make the community safe and to have drivers obey the traffic signals by stopping on red. Starting June 1, 2009, first offenders caught by the cameras will be charged a $125 fine for running red lights. The first phase of Lakeland's camera program will cover five intersections.

- NB Socrum Loop Road @ E. Daughtery Road/Walt Loop Road
- WB E. Daughery Road/Walt Loop Road @ Socrum Loop Road
- SB Socrum Loop Road @ E. Daughtery Road/Walt Loop Road
- NB Socrup Loop road @ Old Combee Road
- SB Socrum Loop Road @ Old Combee Road
- NB N. Florida Avenue @ Memorial Blvd.
- NB S. Florida Avenue @ Beacon Road
- NB Cleveland Heights Blvd @ E. Edgewood Drive
- SB Cleveland Heights Blvd @ E. Edgewood Drive

Red light cameras will capture two images of the offending vehicle - one showing the vehicle before entering the intersection on a red light and one showing the vehicle proceeding through the intersection on red. A video is also made of the violation. The images are reviewed and the violation confirmed by an officer with the Lakeland Police Department.

Owners of vehicles photographed running red lights receive a Notice of Violation and are subject to fines. Those who receive a Notice of Violation can obtain additional information or view their violations and video online at www.violationinfo.com. Citizens can also call toll free 1-800-790-4111, if they have questions.

We encourage all drivers to slow down and stop on red.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Thanking Our Volunteers

 The Staff at LakelandPD paused for an evening of fun last Friday and invited our many volunteers to a bar-b-que dinner as a small token of our appreciation for their contributions to our organization. Over 50 of our volunteers were able to attend the dinner.

 

Our community is blessed to have people so willing to give of their time to help us deliver police services to Lakeland residents. Volunteers help in a variety of ways such as serving as a victim advocate with our Victim Assistance and Domestic Abuse Response Teams, helping with leadership roles in their neighborhood associations, Citizen Police Academy Alumni who are always around the station helping with our various special events, or an untold number of other ways to help.

We thank all of volunteers for the priceless contributions they give to our community - their time, their talents and their commitment.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

The Power of a Crime Tip

Over at our media blog, we posted a story yesterday about two subjects being arrested Tuesday on burglary charges. Our subsequent investigation by detectives into a residential burglary on Lake Hollingsworth drive resulted in the recovery of most of the jewelry and guns taken during the crime.

All of this occurred because of a phone call we received from a citizen witness who saw something suspicious and called the police. In this particular case, a witness saw something happening by their business location that looked suspicious and totally out of character for the area. Rather than wonder if they should call the police and possibly delay getting important information to us, they called right away. Our officers were able to locate two vehicles connected with the burglary and distribution of stolen property, as well as arrest suspects wanted for armed robbery out of Volusia county.

It's worth repeating here - all of this occurred because of a phone call we received from a citizen witness who saw something suspicious and called the police. And quite honestly, we may not have been able to solve this crime without getting the phone call like we did.

The truth of the matter is crimes are most often solved due to information we gather from eyewitnesses or someone who hears a suspect discussing something. Very few crimes are solved because of the spectacular CSI syndrome where forensic lab work quickly directs us to a suspect. We rely on tips and information from the public to help us solve crimes.

We are grateful for the eyewitness calling us like they did and want to use this case to encourage everyone who sees something suspicious in their area to call us. We would rather respond to a thousand "suspicious incident" calls that turn out to be nothing than miss the opportunity to solve a crime like we did on Tuesday.

Guess you could say there is a lot of power in a single crime tip.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Our Behind the Scenes Heroes

There is a standing joke within our industry the only person who can tell a police officer "where to go" and get away with it is a 911 Dispatcher. There is a lot of truth to this statement.

And so it is fitting at this time for us to give recognition and tribute to our behind the scenes heroes in the 911 dispatch center at the conclusion of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.

Our 911 Dispatchers are the first contact most people have with the police department when they call for help. Whether the call is an emergency or just someone looking for information, our Communications Center handles nearly 500,000 phone calls on an annual basis.

Our dispatchers take tremendous pride in the services they provide the community and the police officers in the field. Many folks do not know this fact, but 911 Dispatchers also provide dispatching services for the Lakeland Fire Department in addition to handling police calls for service. Their work day is anything but normal, unless you consider high stress and life-or-death decision making a normal work day!

911 Dispatchers may be behind the scenes in our 911 Communications Center, but they are truly on the front lines in our efforts to provide public safety services to the community. Our thanks to all for a job well done.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Social Media Presentation to City Commission

I had the good fortune of being able to give a brief presentation to the Lakeland City Commission this morning on LakelandPD's use of social media and other wireless or Internet-based technologies to tell our story to the public. A copy of the presentation with the prepared remarks is available here.

The emphasis of the presentation was how public safety agencies, and other government agencies for that matter, can use alternative communication strategies in addition to traditional media to communicate with the public and market what we are doing to create a safe Lakeland community.

Our goal is to help create an informed and engage public willing to partner with us to make our neighborhoods and streets a safe place to live, work, and raise a family. We appreciate the opportunity to share our experiences with the City Commission today.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

February 2009 UCR Report Released

We just released our 2009 UCR crime data for February. The initial year to date figures show overall crime is down in 2009 compared to the first two months of 2008. We will certainly welcome good news like this anytime!

Statistics being what they are, any fluctuation in the numbers during the early part of the year can show big percentage changes when the actual increase or decrease is only a few crimes. For instance, robbery is down 13.3% when the actual count is only 4 less robbery crimes this year compared to last.

Still, we look at long and short range trends to gauge where our hot spots are and where we need to deploy our resources to meeting changing trends. It's good to see a downward change, particularly in tough economic times.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Gun Powder in the Morning

To paraphrase a line from the movie Apocalypse Now- "I love the smell of gun powder in the morning!" Such was the case at the LakelandPD Training Center today as the department concluded the current round of semi-annual firearms qualifications.

LPD officers qualify with their assigned firearms twice a year - a daylight qualification in the spring and a low-light qualification later in the fall. CALEA accreditation standards only call for annual firearms testing, but we require a second qualification each year to meet our stringent standards of firearms proficiency. We also conduct several firearms training sessions throughout the year that are not considered to be qualification tests.

Why do we train so much with our firearms?

Years of experience tells us that officers will respond in a crisis situation exactly as they were trained - it should be an automatic reaction to a lethal threat. We are committed to provide the best training we can possibly afford to give our officers the tactical advantage in a life-threatening situation. There are no guarantees in our business, but we want to stack the survival odds in our favor.

After all, we want the good guys to come home to their families and loved ones at the end of every tour of duty.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere