Florida Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Yesterday the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s department released its crime stats for 2009 and in six of the seven categories they measure, crime in Tampa was down and overall the rate of crimes in Hillsborough County dropped. The same unfortunately cannot be said for St. Petersburg. While St Pete saw a 45% drop in homicides, a 54.5 percent increase in auto thefts boosted the St Pete crime rate nearly 10 percent overall.

While homicides are at their lowest number in 30 years according to TBO.com, police spokes man Bill Proffitt says the increase in auto thefts can be attributed to a small group of teens who are continually stealing cars. Part of the problem according to the Tampa Tribune story is the St. Pete police department’s pursuit policy, which does not allow officers to pursue car thieves in the same manner they would violent criminals.