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Since the days of Charles Deering and Doctors Henry E. Perrine and William Cutler, when the Village of Palmetto Bay was comprised of land grants and farming settlements used for the cultivation of local crops, safety and security has been one of the primary hallmarks of this wonderful community. In fact, public safety is one of the primary reasons for the incorporation of the Village of Palmetto Bay (VPB) in 2002. We are committed to ensure that both residents and visitors feel safe in their homes and while visiting the many amenities available to all that pass through the Village. The VPB Policing Unit is dedicated to providing quality service in a courteous, efficient, and accessible manner. We foster community and employee involvement in our efforts to reduce crime. This mission is only accomplished by ensuring strong relationships with the community, while encouraging participation in the various crime-reduction initiatives and programs we offer.
As the community grew and evolved from the early days of a few settlers to current numbers of over 24,000 residents, so has its Policing Unit. Developments in technology and training offered by the Miami-Dade Police Department have resulted in a Policing Unit that provides professional and efficient service to our residents. The success of the Policing Unit is evident through its historically low crime rate. The Village has experienced an overall crime reduction on a yearly basis for the last 7 years. This can be directly attributed to several innovative programs geared towards addressing crime prevention and addressing current crime trends.
Since its inception, the Policing Unit has applied community policing strategies and has recognized that its successes are based on the close working relationship that has been established with all stakeholders, to include residents, business owners, and elected officials. As such, we established a very robust Community Outreach Unit (COU) that provides many services to our residents and business owners. Among its accomplishments, over the past 20 years, our Policing Unit’s COU has provided instruction to thousands of Village students on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program. DARE empowers students to respect others and choose to lead lives free from violence, substance use, and other dangerous behaviors. While focusing on innovation in crime prevention, the Policing Unit’s COU personnel were the first in the Miami-Dade Police Department to instruct the Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) Women class to our residents. The program evolved, and our COU personnel now also instruct the RAD Kids course. Both of these classes have provided hundreds of Village residents with the critical thinking and physical resistance skills to avoid, resist, and potentially escape a violent encounter. The COU personnel also offer Officer Friendly, Youth Crime Watch, and Anti-Bullying education to the Village children. COU personnel have also participated in the planning and implementation of all major Village events to ensure residents and visitors have a safe experience. These efforts have resulted in multiple awards, with the latest being the 2021 Florida Crime Prevention Association’s Crime Prevention Unit of the Year for smaller police agencies.
In remaining true to the spirit of community policing strategies, our Policing Unit has worked cooperatively with our residents to identify their concerns, solicit their help, and develop solutions to address these “concerns.” Historically, the top concern from Village residents as noted by the Policing Unit has been traffic-related quality of life issues. These issues prompted the creation and implementation of the Comprehensive Improvised Traffic Enforcement (CITE) initiative to address focused traffic enforcement at the most critical streets and intersections within the Village. CITE is a multi-pronged approach that focuses on safety, education, enforcement, and follow-up. This initiative interlaces citizen and Council concerns with the resources of the Public Services Department and the Policing Unit to address those identified traffic issues.
With regard to crime prevention, the Policing Unit continues its unwavering dedication to conducting numerous Security Surveys aimed at providing businesses and homeowners with security-related recommendations about the surveyed property with crime prevention as a goal. The “Lock it or Lose it” initiative, a community-wide safety and educational program that urges residents to lock their vehicles and close their garage doors, continues to play a major role in our efforts to prevent victimization. True and tested programs such as the Crime Watch Program, continue to be a foundation of our policing efforts.
As we reach this 20-year milestone, Major Maria Guerra, Lieutenant Antonio Rodriguez, and the hardworking men and women of your Policing Unit will continue to ensure that the Village of Palmetto Bay of the future is accessible and safe for all.
