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Letter to the editor

Chief asks for backup

Lester Aradi wants to hire 10 police officers.

By LORRIE HELFAND, Times Staff Writer
Published October 10, 2007

LARGO - Crime in the city is on the rise, and Largo Police Chief Lester Aradi used the news to ask city leaders for permission to beef up his police force Tuesday.

In 2006, Largo's overall crime rate went up 7.8 percent from 2005. "With crime trends the way they're going, assaults on officers and civilians increasing, we're going to have to bite the bullet and hire more officers," said Aradi, who presented the figures to city leaders at Tuesday's City Commission workshop.

The city of about 76,000 residents now has about 140 officers. Aradi said Largo needed at least 150. He told city leaders he wanted to seek federal grants to hire 10 more.

Most commissioners said they would support his search.

"We know you need more," Mayor Pat Gerard said.

Commissioner Mary Gray Black also supported seeking grants, but she said annexation may be putting stress on police protection.

Gerard disagreed, saying recent annexations of a handful of homes at a time within enclaves probably has had little impact.

Aradi also praised his officers for "working their tails off out there in the street." During the first six months of this year, arrests have gone up 35 percent over the same period last year.

Although some crime rates are on the rise, Aradi said it was important for residents not to panic.

Many violent crimes are linked to drug use and other crimes of opportunity. He also cautioned against reading too much into the numbers. Although violent crime rose by a huge margin in 2006, 25.8 percent, those crimes dropped the previous year by 20.5 percent.

The number of crimes in Largo jumped 9.2 percent from 2005 to 2006, while crimes countywide dipped 1.1 percent, according to annual crime data compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

State and nationwide, police departments track specific offenses: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, vehicle theft and arson. Total numbers associated with those offenses are called the crime index.

To determine the crime rate, the number of those offenses is multiplied by 100,000 and divided by the total population.

The 2006 crime rate increase followed two years of declines. An analysis of crime rates over that period actually shows an overall decrease of 2.4 percent, Aradi said.

There were also a couple of bright spots in the report: Domestic violence crimes were down andfatal crashes have gone down as well.

per 1,000 residents

City

Largo 2006 population: 75,850

Largo Crime Rates

2004: down 1.2 percent

2005: down 9 percent

2006: up 7.8 percent

Sworn officers/per 1,000 residents

Largo 140/1.84

Clearwater: 260/2.35

Pinellas Park 103/ 2.1

St. Petersburg 540/ 2.18

Tarpon Springs 48/2.12

[Last modified October 9, 2007, 23:03:57]