With the holiday season including the highly anticipated Millennium celebration, the Pinecrest Police Department would like to remind all Village residents and businesses to be especially mindful of situations that may result in you becoming a victim of crime. The following are tips that will protect you against individuals looking for opportunities to commit crimes:

• Keep all of your valuables in a safe and secure place.
• Do not keep large amounts of money in your home or on your person.
• Do not display expensive jewelry when shopping.
• Do not leave valuables or packages inside vehicles in plain view.
• Be aware of your surroundings when driving home from shopping centers, banks or returning home from dining out by glancing in your rearview mirror for vehicles that may be following you home.
• If you suspect that you are being followed, do not stop at your house, try making several continuous right or left turns to confirm or deny your suspicions. If you continue to be followed, drive to a public place such as a gas station and contact the Police Department immediately.

In the majority of burglary cases in and around the Pinecrest area, homes that have large walls or gates (including those with alarm systems) have been repeatedly targeted. Once inside, the burglar will go directly to the master bedroom and ransack drawers and closets looking for jewelry and small safes. It is recommended that you use a safety deposit box at a bank to store your valuables, but if you prefer to keep them at your residence, you should either purchase a six-foot steel safe that cannot be moved easily or have a smaller one bolted to the floor. By doing this you are hindering the burglar’s ability to move in and out in a short period of time.

Residents are encouraged to become familiar with their neighbors and their daily routines. By doing so, you are more likely to notice criminal activity in your neighborhood. If you are going out of town for an extended period of time, contact the Pinecrest Police Department to arrange for residence checks and contact your neighbors to let them know where you are going and a contact number.  You should also make arrangements to have someone pick up your mail and newspaper on a daily basis as thieves look for these signs.

The Pinecrest Police Department advises when you hear a home or car alarm go off in your neighborhood that you glance outside to determine what is the cause. While you should not physically investigate an alarm that is ringing, what you see and hear during the first minutes from inside your home may be extremely helpful to police. From your window, you might notice suspicious individuals or vehicles in the area. Try to jot down as much descriptive information as possible. All residential and commercial alarm systems, which have a central monitoring office, require that the alarm company contact the home prior to notifying the Police Department that the alarm has been triggered. This inevitable delay is common knowledge for thieves and provides them with several extra minutes to ransack a home and get away. Attentive neighbors in the past have assisted our department in apprehending criminals by providing information of any suspicious activity over the telephone or to officers once they arrive at the location.

With the installation of our new Emergency 911 Dispatch System, police response time has been greatly improved. If you see or hear something unusual in your neighborhood, call the Pinecrest Police Department immediately. For emergencies dial 911 and for non-emergencies dial 305-234-2100.

Michael Liotti is Operations Commander of the Pinecrest Police Department.