Opinion: Property crime rising in S. Lake Tahoe
Source: SLTPD
By Brian Uhler
In order to keep you informed, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department will be compiling a monthly report to the community. This report will provide the latest information about crimes and give some crime prevention tips that might help us be a safer and more secure community.
In January, we completed our annual Uniform Crime Report. Details about the Uniform Crime Reporting system along with searchable databases about crime nationally, in California, other cities, and South Lake Tahoe may be found online.
The five-year trend for South Lake Tahoe is very clear. Property crime is up and violent crime appears to be fairly flat. Last summer we interrupted a ring of burglars through a surveillance effort that led to their arrest in Nevada. Recovery of a large amount of property came about through these arrests.
Brian Uhler
Many of the aggravated assaults were related to gang and drug activities in our community. Domestic violence is also disproportionately high.
In 2013, there were 131 burglaries, 89 aggravated assaults and 16 robberies.
On the positive side, SLEDNET [South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team], which combats drug related crime, is being supported in our region even though the state has withdrawn funding. Further, the SLTPD partners with Live Violence Free to help curb domestic violence.
So, what can we do about crime? Some simple crime prevention efforts enacted by our entire community can help. For a crime to occur, there are: (1) a target or victim, (2) a criminal, and (3) opportunity. When opportunity is eliminated, crimes do not occur. The thing you control is opportunity so here are three things you can do to take away or minimize a criminal’s opportunity:
• Keep your property secure.
• Stay aware of your surroundings and people who may pose a threat.
• Alert the police quickly to suspicious circumstances
Brian Uhler is the police chief in South Lake Tahoe.
Good advice to live by.
Excellent. I hope the department will let us know WHERE in town the crimes are occurring. My neighborhood saw a rash of burglaries before the end of last year, but little information was available. We’re in the county, so it would have been the SO involved. All the neighbors knew about them, because we talk, so far nothing has been solved.
Must Say,
I’ve been very happy with both timely response and the “human” approach our El Dorado County Sheriff’s have exhibited over many years !
Good Job Sheriff Officers ! Thank You for the job you do !!
The problem is Moonbeam’s massive early releases of state prisoners and the ones being sent to county jails under re-alignment who are soon released.
What do people think thousands of early released felons are going to do? Look for an honest job or back to what they know? This idea in this county the criminals can be somehow trained like in a college to be chefs and bakers or whatever and become full time employed tax paying citizens works in about 10% of inmates, the 90% that are unemployable are on the streets and back out doing drugs and crime and many are being sent back and then released again. This is going to get far worse under Moonbeam who has the worst record fighting crime of nearly anyone in office.
Justice. “Moonbeam?” Really? Governor Brown has completely turned California around and that is all you have… old Slogans?
In 2004/2005 All Property Crime spiked under “Arnold’s” leadership to 3500/100,000 population; now the rate is 2800/100,000 population. You want cartoon character Arnold Back?
A Hollywood liberal posing as a Governor? No thanks. I will take any of the previous GOP Governors who were tough of crime. The 1400 inmates Mr. M-Beam released who were serving life without parole is insanity, what are juries for? These releases are a record, four times more then any two pervious Governors combined. Add this to the other thirty thousand early released in the last two years and wait for the FBI stats in the next few years to tell the real story. Locally and across the state, it is one crime wave after another.
Sure Justice. Let’s go back to the 6000/100,000 ratio under George Deukmejian. Thanks goodness for the President Clinton Years between 1992 and 2000 when all crime reduced by half, the economy boomed and we were left with a surplus.
Prior to 1964 California had 12 prisons. Thanks to the War on Drugs and the 500% increase in inmate population, California built 23 new prisons. California ranks 17th in State Incarceration rates. However, the USA ranks 1st in Global incarceration rates, again due to War on Drugs.
You do realize that the parole board starts the process of release and California is under court orders from overcrowding in the prisons.
Now, if someone wants to put a ballot measure on the table to build more prisons at a cost of about $400 Million each, I say give it a try.
About 33% of inmates are illegally in the country now due to the open borders and many working for the cartels are in prison after illegally entering to fuel drug supply to demand, and their drugs of choice are very dangerous and of unknown quality, this is why there are so many OD heroin deaths, and making any now illegal drug legal will only cause an increase in cheap labor produced drugs from S. America. No prison space and letting lifers out is insane at best. There are also several empty youth prisons now that were closed and weren’t reused for adults. The room for many is there, no new prisons in 5-6 years could have been compensated for as the state has the ability to contract to send inmates to other states also. The enforcing of drug laws will continue as drug gangs produce many violent crimes, it is not about simple possession as there is already drug diversion in place.
Justice. Current events; More deportations now for undocumented workers then at any time prior. Opiates have been around for centuries and really took off after the Civil War (laudanum) when so many Vets were wounded. Thanks to Bayer for mass distribution of heroin in the early 1900’s, then the MAFIA, now anyone. Drug Wars, like any other War, cost money. I would suggest curtailment of the demand, but that is another discussion.
Again, if you want to build 10 new prisons at $450 million per, see what the voters want to do.
Dogula,
Crimereports.com apparently is the data base in use for El Dorado county sheriff.