[cabo35]

The golf cart theft problem has reached disturbing proportions. It is clearly a trend that should have been addressed by local police authorities. Hopefully, I am underestimating them and they are working on the problem. In a previous post, I cited the complexities and possible remedies for the unique crime trends and policing complexities that are linked to the Villages multi-jurisdictional composition. The context involved the burglary issue but is also applicable to the cart theft problem.

Several factors that need to be considered include the overlapping of policing responsibilities between three counties and a municipality. A basis for establishing crime patterns and trends is the accumulation and archiving of criminal activity data. I don't know whether that is occurring on regional or jurisdictional basis, or, at all in the Villages. Such documentation, which is fairly easy to program with today's technology, would be a useful tool in identifying crime patterns, projecting crime hazard areas and deploying available resources that reduce the likelihood of crimes being committed.

An oversimplified theory of crime spells out three components that need to exist for crime to occur. They are motivation, opportunity and a belief that it will be successful.

As to motive, more than likely most crimes in the Villages are committed by transients from neighboring areas. The motives and remedies are largely social issues that the average Villager can do little about. The opportunity increases or decreases proportionate to the omnipresence created by conspicuous police patrols, good alarm systems, large dogs and good neighbors. The belief that a crime will be successful speaks to investigative efforts that lead to apprehension and conviction rates.

Are the law enforcement agencies, Sumter County Sheriff, Marion County Sheriff, Lake County Sheriff, and Lady Lake PD accumulating, sharing, analyzing and acting on crime data from the Villages?

Would a special joint Villages Task Force be a more effective approach to patrolling and responding to the crime patterns attributable to the demographics and unique circumstances of our community? Who has the political clout and contacts to bring this to the table?

A joint task force properly organized and directed could reduce or eliminate this problem in short order. A multifaceted joint effort that includes:

Investigation and intelligence gathering on a regional or statewide basis to determine the target market areas for stolen carts. This essentially means attacking the problem from the back end and working to the source or actual theft component. The use of police stings has been very effective in reducing other burglary and theft type crimes.

Concurrent with the above action, target areas, times and patterns should be identified by the collation of existing data. A combination of marked and undercover patrols, stakeouts in prime areas, the use of gps technology in "bait" vehicles to identify end destinations. The ever important alerting of the public to the scope of the problem and requesting public support by encouraging prevention remedies and the reporting of suspicious activity is vital to success.

A final facet would be to coordinate the application of political and/or media pressure on cart manufacturers to enhance anti-theft and cart identification potential. Local cart dealers could also get involved by adding these enhancements and marketing them accordingly.

This in not rocket science and if it not happening, we should be asking why it isn't. While I have read about some cart theft activity in the Daily Sun, nothing suggests the scale of the problem as represented on this board. I would really like to hear from our local law enforcement authorities on this issue.