77.7 F
Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesPOLICE REPORT FURTHER DROP IN BURGLARY CASES

POLICE REPORT FURTHER DROP IN BURGLARY CASES

Oct. 4, 2001 – For the second month in a row, Police Lt. Rene Garcia announced a sizable drop in the number of burglaries reported on St. John. In September, he said, the number fell 67 percent from August.
A month earlier, he had said that the number of reports in August represented a drop of 42 percent from the July figures.
Garcia, the Police Department's St. John zone commander, declined to provide the actual numbers of burglaries reported. And he said he did not have figures from 2000 to compare on a same-month basis.
One person was arrested on burglary charges last month, he said.
The sharp declines for August and September came after a wave of burglaries, mainly of vacation villas, had been reported in the spring and early summer.
While St. John is continually short of police officers, Garcia said, personnel from the Community Oriented Policing Unit on St. Thomas assisted St. John officers in patrols and stakeouts during September.
He declined to say how many officers are assigned to St. John, but he said criminals know when the island is short staffed. "They take advantage of that," he said. But he said the recent statistics show that, although it is short staffed, the Police Department will not allow criminals to take over the islands.
Garcia also said reports of felonies on St. John were down 19 percent in September from the August level. Last month, he reported that the August figures had shown a drop of 41 percent from July. Again, actual numbers of cases reported and comparisons with the same months a year earlier were not available. Felonies include crimes such as assault, rape and murder.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Keeping our community informed is our top priority.
If you have a news tip to share, please call or text us at 340-228-8784.

Support local + independent journalism in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Unlike many news organizations, we haven't put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as accessible as we can. Our independent journalism costs time, money and hard work to keep you informed, but we do it because we believe that it matters. We know that informed communities are empowered ones. If you appreciate our reporting and want to help make our future more secure, please consider donating.