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
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