When you’re awakened in the middle of the night by helicopter
rotors and sirens accompanied by red & blue flashers and bright spotlights,
the logical assumption is that something is up.
Exactly what that is, however, can be just about anything. It
doesn’t always mean a murderer or rapist is on the loose.
Recently, Gulfport officers were asked to locate a man who
was wanted by the Pinellas Sheriff’s Office for several counts of dealing in
stolen property. When the officers found him, the suspect took off running, and
the law enforcement machine went to work.
Since we share communications with the sheriff’s office,
deputies were already monitoring the situation, and they responded immediately.
In this densely-populated county with over twenty law enforcement agencies
routinely working across jurisdictions, this is an everyday occurrence. Gulfport
and PCSO patrol units set up a perimeter, and sheriff’s investigators requested
air and K-9 support. For over an hour we searched; unfortunately, the suspect
was able to evade capture. For the moment. He was apprehended a few days later
under similar circumstances. A Gulfport officer spotted and recognized him, and
with assistance from another agency (St. Petersburg PD this time), the suspect
was apprehended by a K-9 while hiding under a house.
Is all this overkill for a thief? Is catching this kind of
crook worth the expense and public inconvenience of saturating a neighborhood
with a dozen or more officers and deputies, a couple of police dogs, and a
helicopter? Well, you be the judge.
Consider that this man was wanted for 28 counts of dealing
in stolen property. Each count is a second-degree felony punishable by up to
fifteen years in prison. Consider that theft of property is Gulfport’s number
one crime, has been for years, and is routinely among residents’ top complaints
to police.
Some may think that such efforts should be reserved for
violent offenders, but I’m the one who would be stuck explaining to the victims
of the thefts and burglaries that we didn’t catch the criminal because we just
didn’t try hard enough. That doesn’t sit well with me, but I don’t think
there is a perfect answer. I see this particular case as a job well done, and I
wouldn’t hesitate to put forth the same effort again. The best we can do is
keep the resources available and leave it to the best judgment of our trained
and experienced officers to make the right decisions on how and when to use
them.
In the meantime, we’ll do our best to let the public know if
there is ever a dangerous fugitive on the loose. We can send instant media
alerts to news outlets, post messages on our Facebook page, and we invite
residents to sign up for our new emergency alert system https://alertregistration.com/GulfPortFL/
Stay safe, and as always, your feedback is welcome and
appreciated.
