“Don’t Let the Holiday “Grinch” Steal Your Holiday”
By: Lieutenant Dwight Snyder,
Sergeant Ray Atesiano,
Sunny Isles Beach Police Department, Criminal Investigation

They may not be green, and they may not be ugly, but rest assured there are holiday “Grinchs” out there, who want to steal your holiday cheer. But not to worry, your Sunny Isles Beach Police Department is prepared for the holiday shopping season with a proactive initiative designed to spoil the criminals’ plans.

With the advent of the Holiday Season, so comes the traditional increase in crimes of opportunity, which are associated with this time of year. Due to the high volume of holiday shopping and customers carrying extra cash brings an unwanted invitation to the criminal element, who wish to do their holiday shopping at your expense. In order to combat a rise in crime during this time of season, the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department has once again put together a Holiday Crime Suppression Task Force.

This program was first initiated in 1999 to stop an increase in holiday related crimes such as robberies and vehicle burglaries, which we experienced the previous year. The program had an immediate impact by reducing the amount of robberies and violent crimes by 75%. The lowering of these statistics was good, but not nearly good enough. After careful analysis of the crime trends and trouble spots from year to year, we achieved our goal of zero robberies during the holiday season of 2001.

Now that our goal had been reached, the emphasis was specifically focused on how to continue our success in keeping the City as crime-free as possible. With the changes that have occurred throughout the City over the years, so have the crime trends. We now have moved from a more aggressive offensive approach, to a mixture of pro-active “high visibility” patrolling, which will hopefully keep the criminal element away, along with stealthily undercover operations, which are geared to catch any crimes in progress that may occur.

The emphasis of today’s details is developed to provide extra coverage at hot spot locations such as banks, shopping centers and neighborhoods throughout the Holiday Season. You may see them, you may not, but rest assured we are there! Our goal is to continue to provide the finest police service available, allowing the citizens and visitors of Sunny Isles Beach to have a safe environment to live, work and play.

But as hard as we work to suppress crime, we need the cooperation of our citizens to be smart and on guard, so as not to become a victim. Remember the tips on being a smart shopper. Always keep alert when leaving a mall or store. Keep your car keys out and ready to open your vehicle. Never leave your packages inside an unoccupied vehicle or in plain view. Ladies, never leave your purse unattended in a shopping cart, or your wallet or money exposed. Gentlemen, carry your wallet, cash or credit cards inside your front pants pocket instead of the back pocket. But most importantly, be ever vigilant and aware of your surroundings. Don’t make it easy for the criminal to pick YOU as his next target.

By working together, we can hopefully make the criminals look for another place to frequent during this wonderful holiday season. Remember our pledge and commitment to you is making this holiday season, as well as every other day, peaceful and safe.

Happy Holidays!

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