Doral implementing measures to fight property crimes
August 23, 2010
Doral has recently been with a flurry of large ticket property crimes such as
burglary and grand theft which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of losses to victims. Recently, offenders opened the roof to a cell phone store with a blow torch and lowered themselves down with ropes and avoided touching the floor which would have set off the alarm system. The offenders made off with $500,000 worth of inventory. According to the Doral police chief, this is the fifth burglary of this type to occur over a seven month time period. The police chief said they have suspects on numerous burglary charges, but are continuing the investigation in an effort to gather more evidence. If arrests are made, it would behoove the suspects to invoke their right to remain silent and seek to retain
Miami criminal defense attorneys to defend their cases.
There has been a rise in the number of burglary and
grand theft cases from January to July of this year. In fact, 95 burglaries have been committed over the past six month which on average is one every two days. Along with the burglaries to businesses, 443 auto thefts and 75 dwelling burglaries have been reported to the Doral law enforcement. Dwelling burglary charges are very serious offenses and are treated that way by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. This offense is a second degree felony punishable up to 15 years in prison. More importantly, burglary to a dwelling is a level 7 offense which under the Florida sentencing guidelines carries a minimum sentence of 21 months in prison. Burglary to a structure which is the technical definition for burglary to a business is a third degree felony and does not carry a prison sentence for
first time offenders. However, if more than $100,000 in property is taken, the defendant can be charged with grand theft first degree which does carry a prison sentence.
What is Doral doing to curb the number of burglary and grand theft offenses? First, they are attempting to implement two security plans which are models for large cities such as New York, Washington, D.C. and London, England. Doral intends on installing video cameras at 17 locations which covers the ingress to and egress from the City of Doral. They also intend on installing 14 video cameras at the public schools within the district. The video camera installation will take about a year and will be monitored at police headquarters. Doral is currently using three video cameras to monitor local parks. Although expensive, the federal government is going to subsidize $500,000 of the costs for the security system. The cameras being installed are high-resolution which can actually record license plate numbers.
The first video cameras will be installed in the industrial and business areas of Doral from 36th Street to the Dolphin Expressway and from Palmetto Expressway to the Florida Turnpike. The system being installed is much more sophisticated than the current systems used to enforce traffic laws. The system will be installed and maintained by a private company. It will be interesting to see if the installation curbs the number crimes against property within the Doral area. Of course, by going public with the information, offenders may seek more fertile ground that is not guarded by upgraded security measures.
Doral to Boost Security after Spectacular Heists, The Miami Herald.com, August 18, 2010.
