Fill out this form to email this article to a friend

Your name		Your email
Recipient email	You may enter up to 20 multiple email addresses, separated by commas.
Your message
Validation Code	Hear validation code
	Enter validation code

We were unable to send your email.

Click here to try again.

Crime in Tampa on the decline

By Jan Wesner, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tampa police officers listen to Lt. David Goodman at a “front porch roll call” at the home of Eric Krause, 5501 N Seminole Ave., in Old Seminole Heights on Wednesday. “We’re doing everything we can to get (crime) under control,” Goodman said.
	[KERI WIGINTON | Times]

Story Tools E-mail this story Contact the editor Print this story Comment on this story Social Bookmarking Digg Facebook Stumbleupon Reddit Del.icio.us Newsvine

ADVERTISEMENT

TAMPA — Twenty police cars and unmarked cruisers lined two blocks of a side street in Old Seminole Heights on Wednesday night.

Thirty residents listened as several officers and police Chief Stephen Hogue spoke in front of TV cameras on a nearby front porch.

The news? Crime in the city dropped 12 percent during the first half of 2008 compared to the same period last year, Hogue said. The biggest decline was in forcible sex offenses, down from 84 to 60.

This is the fifth year in a row crime has decreased in Tampa, Hogue said.

"It's been our No. 1 mission," he said.

Hogue and about 15 officers personally delivered the statistics to neighbors gathered on Seminole Avenue. The public venue — dubbed a "front porch roll call" — is part of a new effort to reach out to residents around the city.

"We know that's where the solution is, in the neighborhoods," said Hogue.

Maj. John Bennett, who oversees the police district that includes Old Seminole Heights, came up with the novel idea to hold officers' nightly roll call in public places.

Roll call is when the shift commander issues bulletins, talks about at-large suspects and gives officers information they need before starting their shifts.

"We want to be as transparent as possible, de-mystify our roles," Bennett said.

Bennett's goal is for every shift to have roll call two nights a week on a street corner and one night on a front porch or other visible location.

Neighbors who gathered Wednesday, many of whom serve on the neighborhood crime watch, like the idea.

"Not always when you see police are bad things happening," said Shawn Hicks, 42. "Sometimes good things are happening."

Bennett and Hogue attributed the drop in crime to citizen involvement in neighborhoods like Old Seminole Heights, where residents banded together to deter prostitution and other crimes.

The officers were dismissed at the end of the roll call and told to let their shift supervisor know if they needed anything.

They drove away in their squad cars and unmarked cruisers to start their 11 1/2-hour shift. The neighbors went inside for a potluck supper.

Out on the street, all was quiet.

Contact Jan Wesner at jwesner@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2439.