- April 24, 2024
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The Crime Suppression Team has helped make 111 arrests in nine months.
PALM COAST — In an effort to fight crime more effectively, Flagler County Sheriff Donald Fleming decided to reduce his patrol staff.
“It’s a major investment when you take five people off the road,” Fleming said. “But it’s been worth it.”
Those five were not laid off; they were reassigned to a special unit Fleming calls the Crime Suppression Team. And after nine months under wraps, Capt. Lynne Catoggio, who supervises the unit, said it’s time for the residents to know more about the strategic shift.
“We wanted to put the kudos where the kudos should go and let the public know … that we’ve been successful in how we’re allocating … resources,” she said.
Instead of patrolling the roads and making routine traffic stops, which can result in hours of paperwork, team members focus on covert operations, surveillance and more in-depth investigations that can stretch out over weeks, but which can pay big dividends.
“They don’t answer calls,” Fleming said. “Their responsibility is to work hot areas. If we have a rash of burglaries like we did in the R-section, they work the R-section.”
The team has been engaged in 27 operations since last summer, according to new data from the Sheriff’s Office. Two large burglary rings were dismantled, including one now facing racketeering charges after thefts in Duval, St. Johns, Flagler and Volusia counties. Seven stolen ATMs were recovered, as well as thefts from five pharmacies and four restaurants. The team has recovered more than $210,000 of stolen property since last summer.
The team of five, the identities of which are being withheld, has made 111 arrests (83 adults, 28 juveniles); 55% of those arrests were felonies.
Fleming said the strategy, which is sometimes called “target hardening,” has likely diverted even more crime away from Flagler as word has spread in the criminal underground.
“It is absolutely well worth the investment of getting these guys off patrol,” Catoggio said. “They’re out there solving cases, bringing closure for the victims and providing a solid case for the prosecution.”
She said that because the team of five has been on patrol in the past, the members have good relationships with those still on road patrol, and they cooperate well, sharing key intelligence and following up to finish cases.
Catoggio added that the team also alerts Palm Coast Code Enforcement when it finds “broken windows,” or violations that could contribute to the decline of a neighborhood and lead to more crime.
Fleming said he’d like to create yet another Crime Suppression Team in the future, as well as increase his Criminal Investigations Department from 11 to about 21 in the next three to five years. Currently, each deputy in criminal investigations has up to 70 active cases.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded to 113,000 calls for service in 2010, and made 2,648 arrests. The agency has 279 funded positions, and 264 are currently filled.
Ralph Carter Park
Fleming also said the activity surrounding Ralph Carter Park is not greater than other areas in the city. He said he thinks the city will ultimately erect a fence to try to address the problems reported by residents in the R-section.
But, he said, “There’s an old saying: ‘Locks are made for honest people.’ You lock that door — it gives you a sense of security, but any good thief could get in in no time.”
Still, he said, residents should continue to call when they see anything out of the ordinary in their neighborhoods.
“I’d rather have 10 nothing calls than one something call,” he said.
The tip line for the Sheriff’s Office is 313-4911.
