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Summertime plan targets idle youths, criminal hot spots

The program is designed to prevent the traditional spike in auto burglaries, auto thefts and home burglaries.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published June 2, 2006

TAMPA - Baseball games are a sure sign of summer. For Tampa police, so is an increase in crime.

That's why police have paired the two in "Operation Triple Play," an initiative aimed at preventing a spike in crimes over the summer.

Think of how busy shops are at Christmastime, said police Chief Steve Hogue, addressing a roll call of some of the participating officers at District I headquarters Thursday morning. That's how busy police are during the summer.

"In the police business, the summertime is when we win the war against crime or we don't," Hogue told police officers, community members and reporters.

The program, which started Sunday and runs until Aug. 5, had netted 19 arrests and 13 tickets by Thursday afternoon, said police spokeswoman Andrea Davis.

It focuses on three crimes that typically spike in the summer: auto burglaries, auto thefts and home burglaries.

About 15 to 20 officers are assigned to the initiative, said Sgt. Jim Contento. It doesn't cost the department extra money because the officers are reassigned from their regular duties, he said.

The goal is to send out a "small army" of officers, including school resource officers, to keep a close watch on neighborhoods, Contento said.

The point isn't to rack up a bunch of tickets, he said. It's to make people feel safer, particularly at a time when youths are out of school and more likely to commit crimes, he said.

Catching one burglar in the Hyde Park neighborhood can reduce crime by a lot, since criminals may commit more than one burglary, he said.

"It's about making quality arrests," Contento said.

Crime analyst Jeffrey L. Gillespie has compiled maps of hot spots for criminal activity in the area. That way, officers know how to best use their time, he said.

He didn't use baseball or shopping to describe their job. He used fishing.

To catch a good fish, a fisherman needs to know the time of day the fish are biting and the best places to catch them. The crime maps will help officers do the same for criminals, he said, holding up maps for the officers to see.

The roll call ended with trivia that paired baseball and crime-fighting. Officers won T-shirts for naming criminal statutes and Tampa Bay Devil Rays players.

"Play ball!" Contento said as he called the meeting to an end.

Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 813 226-3373 or vansickle@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 08:32:03]