On Sunday both a burglary and a case of theft/larceny were reported on her block. Harp remembers seeing the police cars. She also remembers specific crimes she watched being committed from her front porch. Once Harp watched a neighbor struggle with an attempted hijacking of his car, another time she saw a neighbor being held at gunpoint.
“The crime rate has been a problem in this area for quite some time,” said District 2 City Commissioner Velma Williams of the Goldsboro area where Harp resides.
Williams also said that the Goldsboro area has been targeted by law enforcement and consequently special efforts are made to patrol the area 24/7.
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2008, the south has the highest crime rate out of any other region in the nation. The report tallies the Sanford population at 51,464 with 354 documented incidents of violent crime and 3,189 incidents of property crime. Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery and assault while burglary, theft, auto theft and arson are classified as property crimes.
Every Wednesday, Harp helps her church feed the homeless in a program called Grace N’ Grits. Through this volunteer activity she has gotten to know the homeless community and their habits. She said they inhabit the empty houses around her area. Harp believes the downward spiral of the economy has helped contribute to the increase in foreclosure properties where homeless take up residence, the increase of Sanford’s homeless population and the increase of property crime.
Radley Amerault is the Sanford Police Department’s Crime Analyst. She looks at crime statistics to help determine trends. “I don’t know why violent crime is down,” she said, “I know why property crime is up. Property crime is up because of the economy.”
Assistant Professor for the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida, Ross Wolf, said that while there is not a 100 percent link between the economy and crime, trends do exists.
“However, studies show that when the economy gets poor, crime increases as people try to meet their financial needs,” said Wolf.
During March and April the police department began to notice an increase in burglaries.
“We started noticing trends in particular neighborhoods and we’d hit those neighborhoods hard,” said Amerault. The increase of patrol units in those neighborhoods helped in making arrests and dissolve trends of crime.
“We got a lot of good arrests for burglaries and that’s something to be proud of because burglaries are some of the hardest crimes to solve because they’re crimes of discovery. People come home to find them; they don’t come home to catch a bugler.”
Amerault didn’t know specific numbers pertaining to arrests made for burglaries because that information had yet to be compiled in a report to be analyzed.
“People are out of work and they’re turning to crime to supplement taking care of their family and it’s unfortunate that they are,” said Amerault.
Now Harp takes special precautions. She keeps her lights on at night, checks that doors are locked at all times and even avoids answering knocks at the front door. All windows are concealed with blinds and shades and even the glass oval of her red front door is lined in aluminum foil. Harp also planted thorny trees and shrubbery in her yard to deter people from cutting through.
Recently the Sanford Police Department partnered with crimemapping.com, a website that allows users to view crimes that have been reported in their area. Symbols have been assigned to specific crimes, for instance, a blue square containing a dollar sign represents burglary crimes.
Burglary signs are sprinkled thought Sanford. A chain of assault and drugs/alcohol squares pop up in Harp’s neighborhood.
Williams is Harp’s City Commissioner. She said, “It is true that we can not deny that the records reflect that these things are occurring. The true picture is never really told. It’s unfortunate that this is the case because no one should have to live under these conditions.”
Precautions You Can Take Against Neighborhood Crime-
-Join your local Neighborhood Watch
Contact Officer Tina Leman for more information at (407) 688 - 5070 ext. 6042 or tina.leman@sanfordfl.gov
- Keep numbers handy
Sanford Police Community Policing Unit (407) 688 - 5072
Sanford Police Department non-emergency line (407) 688 – 5199
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office at (407) 665 – 6650
- Become a volunteer for the Sanford Police Department
Contact Volunteer Program Coordinator Wendy Dorival at (407) 688 - 5070 ext. 6008 or wendy.dorival@sanfordfl.gov
- Photograph valuables in case of theft. This will increase the likelihood they will be found and returned.
- Get to know your neighbors. By getting to know your neighbors you’re creating a bond that will help the community stay safe and allow for cooperation in activities like the Neighborhood Watch program. Plus when you learn about the routines of your neighbors your better able to identify suspicious activities.
CrimeMapping View of Crimes in Sanford
*Information for the above chart was compiled from Sanford Police reports ranging from 10/2/09 until 11/30/09
