Chief's Chat #44: What Actually Works to Reduce Juvenile Crime?

Summer crime doesn’t have to be a rerun. We sit down with Chief Sizemore to unpack what we’re actually seeing with juvenile vehicle burglaries and car hopping, and how targeted work behind the scenes is changing the numbers in Cape Coral. If you’ve ever wondered whether prevention can be more than a slogan, this conversation gets specific about what’s working and why it’s making a measurable dent in property crime.

We break down the Juvenile Task Force model and the real advantage of school resource officers: they already know the kids, the schools, and the families, so they can build positive connections while also keeping eyes on the small group most likely to reoffend. We also talk through secure juvenile checks for youth on community control, juvenile probation, or home detention, and why those checks lower recidivism by reinforcing the terms meant to support rehabilitation. Along the way, we dig into the reality of consequences, the role parents play, and how the system is designed to give juveniles a path back, not a life sentence.

We also get into modern policing tools like the real-time crime center and how faster identification changes outcomes. Then we pivot to back-to-school safety: school zone speed cameras returning, the first-week traffic surge, and how to re-learn your routes now so you’re not surprised when buses, bikes, e-bikes, crossing guards, and distracted kids fill the streets again.

Transcript

Hosts Update And Career News

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Copcast Chiefs Chat Edition.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

I'm one of your hosts, Lisa Greenberg. And I'm Officer Mercedes Simons. Together we make up the public affairs office. Maybe soon to be changing. We'll have more information on that. Oh, you don't even have to knock. It's a done, it's a done deal. Can't believe it. Um I'm going over to the Professional Standards Bureau, um, which is technically, it's not a promotion, it's technically a lateral move. But I'm very excited. It's good to um I I always say that like being an officer is the most fun you can have in your career because it's the only time that you can like choose where you go to some extent. You can put in for spots, you get chosen. But choose your own adventure. But you can you can put in for here, you can put in for there, and you can figure out where your strengths lie, you can diversify and just learn completely different things. And I think that's the the best part is is learning different things. It's not like you're stuck in one spot for forever. You know, it's not a desk job that you're just destined to. You can go and do and explore. Um, versus when you get promoted, it's kind of like, no, you you go here now for us. Thanks. So I'm she's now gonna be Detective Simons.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Big move, big move. You said it's a lateral move, but it's an upward trajectory in your career and you've earned it. And um, we're very sad that you're not gonna be with us every single day. Um, but we got somebody cool coming in. Yeah. More on that later.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

We'll introduce you to him at some point. And if you're a avid watcher or listener to the podcast, you've already met him. Yes. So there's a little tea. Um, but while we still have her, we're gonna tackle another Chief's chat. Um,

Summer Juvenile Burglary Trend Check

SPEAKER_01 1:45

good morning, Chief.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Good morning, happy Friday.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Happy Friday. Um, we have a lot to talk about. Um, first of all, I can't believe that we're already essentially just a few weeks away from the end of summer and school is gonna be starting back up again. And we talk a lot about in this time period the type of crime that we typically see because the juveniles are out, they're doing their thing, they're, you know, being a little adventurous or whatever they think they're being. And so we certainly uh typically see certain types of crime during the summer months. So we were having some conversations because we had a recent vehicle burglary that involved three juveniles. And we were talking about, you know, I wonder where this fits in the narrative of the entire summer. How much of this have we been seeing? How much of this has our officers run into? And um, our patrol captain actually had put together some interesting information that proves that some of the work that our officers have been doing behind the scenes to suppress this type of crime is actually working.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Yeah.

Juvenile Task Force Strategy Explained

SPEAKER_02 2:46

We've talked about the the juvenile um uh what do we call it? The juvenile task force. Task force. We call it okay, yes. Sorry, the JTF, the juvenile task force. Um, our community services bureau has been working on that. We've actually talked about it in a previous podcast. If you haven't seen that one, go back and and watch or listen. But essentially we've reappropriated our SROs to go out there and make juvenile contacts with all juveniles, but also do some of the secure juvenile checks for those who may be on probation to go out, see if there's any further issues in the community, whether it be uh large or small, uh from e-bike safety to vehicle burglaries. And we've seen a massive impact in what we've been doing.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

100%. So let's be clear there's a lot of kids out for the and most, uh like the overwhelming majority are just having a good old-fashioned American summer. And our SROs who are very familiar with our juveniles because they work with them every day and during the school year, um, we talked about it, like you said, on that podcast where we do camps, we do um all kinds of outreach training. There's a lot that the SROs do, and one of the things that they do is they form a juvenile task force. And it's twofold. It's positive interaction, right? Meeting the good kids doing good kid things and and keeping the fist bumps up and the positive interaction and and that connection. And also as a little visual reminder, don't stray from good old-fashioned fun into you know mischief. And then we have those that have been arrested before for anything from burglary all the way up to violent crimes, such as robbery, and they are put on home detention or community control, which is a form of home detention, and they have to be home. It's like house arrest. And if they're not checked, then they will roam and re-offend. And that is a phenomenon that happens. So one of the best tools that you have is to perform checks. And the Department of Juvenile Justice does that, but they need help because there's a lot of them. So we actually take our top offenders and that are on community control or on juvenile probation or house arrest and we check on them. And if they're not doing what they're supposed to be, they're not abiding by the conditions of their of their probation, and then we'll uh submit violations and they could be rearrested. Uh and if they're there, we keep them there. And if you keep people uh who have offended abiding by the terms of what they're supposed to do to rehabilitate, then the chance of re-offending or recidivism rate goes down. That's the theory, right? Now I know it's not a theory because it's worked for many, many years. But we put that into practice, and if you look at last summer when we weren't able to do this or we didn't have this initiative, we had a burglary rate that was here. And you look at the same time period this year, by targeting those juvenile offenders and working to make sure that they comply and abide by the conditions, you should see a reduction. And lo and behold, we have a tremendous reduction in burglaries. Um, and not only that, the ones that we do have, we're solving twofold. Follow-ups and going back and getting them. But this is a new advent, is our real-time crime center, is allowing us and giving us the tools and the ability to make it in real time. So a lot of these burglary arrests, albeit a tremendous reduction and success has been had, the ones that we're having, we're able to get them at the point of sale, which is really a tremendous turn for the positive for us. So uh an initiative was launched, executed, and the results are promising.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah, I think it's incredible. I think it just shows that we are hitting it from every angle and it's having a huge impact. We're hitting it from the Community Services Bureau, doing the juvenile task force. Our um our property crimes unit is usually the one that deals with vehicle burglaries, and either um they get those cases assigned to them very quickly, but we've got really good detectives in there. Oh, yeah. Um, and we have a lot of technology to be able to um, whether it's you know, surveillance footage that people give us from their homes or neighbors that call in, it's just a lot of follow-up work and they're pretty good, and they know a lot of the kids. That's what the one thing that I've noticed is you'll walk in and there's like a list of recurring names that they all seem to know, which is why we talk about recidivism and the likelihood to reoffend. There's a list of recurring names, and these property crimes detectives are passionate about what they do and they're familiar with all of them. Yeah. So if they see a still frame, half the time they're identifying these kids themselves.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Right. And then you have the SROs that have that have knowledge of them and go, I know who that is. I know what school they go to and and where they live. And one thing I do want to note is that we talked about the kids who are just enjoying summer, then those who get into a little bit of trouble, and then those who get into real trouble. That

Rehabilitation And Probation Reality

SPEAKER_00 8:06

group, I want to talk about that group. There are a good percentage of those kids, because we we believe in the criminal justice system, right? That's our life's work. A big component of the criminal justice system is rehabilitating, and especially juveniles.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

You're not marked for life if you get caught doing something wrong. You break into a car or you go and you get in a fight with a friend or an acquaintance and you snatch their chain and it's a robbery. And you're not marked forever now. You have a choice in life. You can and go down that path, but there are tools in place, and we are a part of that to help you get back on the right path. And there are a lot of kids who will take advantage. It's weird to say it's an opportunity. Yeah, it is. You get caught, you get in trouble, and you get on house arrest, or you have conditions placed on you. That becomes an opportunity. Not one you wanted, but it's an opportunity to make a choice. And a lot of them are making the right choice to rehabilitate themselves and get back on the sidewalk moving in the right direction to finish school and then do something with your life after school. So there, I want it's important to note that there are a lot of success stories like that. Doesn't show up on the sheet, but there are plenty of people, plenty of well um producing, productive, awesome adult members of society who strayed when they were younger. And because somebody invested in them and provided them with the the opportunity to make the right choice, they've righted the ship and they are uber successful now. And we still believe in that, and that is a huge component of the criminal justice system is rehabilitation and get them back.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Of course. That's always the goal.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Yeah, their terms and conditions aren't a joke either. I've gone to a couple of the different juvenile probation meetings because some of our officers will go, whether it be school resource officers or whatever, just because they know the kid, they want to stay involved and they want to they want to mentor them and push them in the right direction. So sometimes they'll go to these meetings. I went to one actually with Officer Matt Mills. He was really invested in this kid. And I was listening to the terms because you always kind of hear, you know, it's they go to the juvenile assessment center. Sometimes they get held, but usually they get sent home with their parents. It is what it is. Um, and I think sometimes that can aggravate people, but when they get put on probation, you have to be home. Usually it's by 6 p.m., which means you're not going out to dinner with your mom at seven. Your parents almost they they also have to face the consequences of their kids' actions almost. Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Um parents are held accountable for it because they have to make sure that their kids are complying. For sure, yeah. They need help. We're able to help them, and it's a whole it restricts them too. You're right. And people do get frustrated when somebody gets um arrested. If you're a victim of something and it's a juvenile and they get arrested, they go to DJJ or Department of Juvenile Justice, which is like kid jail. The max that you hold somebody in kid jail or DJJ is 21 days, and that is reserved for homicides, robberies, um extreme crimes. They get 21 days. So if that's the max, and that's the correlating crime to that, criminal mischief, car hopping, burglaries, they're gonna get released right back.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

But the free ride is not there. No, I mean they're home, and you know, why aren't they it it's there's a whole system behind that, but they have those conditions imposed upon them. They're pretty much in jail at home, yeah. Where they cannot go outside to do that.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

So it as long as they follow the path, we're there to help, and we want them to get back to really having a chance at having a good adulthood.

unknown 11:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

But really good success. Um, kind of got off I got off track on that. But we had a burglary issue or a property crime issue that happens every summer, and it's been pretty consistent up here. Uh refocus and a scientific change in what we do has immediately resulted in a big drop. And it's a a big credit to our community services bureau and the work that our SROs do. 365, not just the 180 that they're in school, but it is a 360, 365 job, and the results are glowing, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yeah. I was

Boredom, Car Hopping, And Risk

SPEAKER_01 12:26

reading a report too, so I feel like we have to toss this reminder in there that um I was reading a report, and it was a young girl who was being arrested for car hopping, uh, basically going throughout the neighborhood, stealing a car, ditching it, finding another one to steal, and and she said she was bored, yeah, you know, and just was looking for something to do. And so it's just a reminder to parents to have those conversations with their kids. This isn't a joke, this isn't just something you do when you're bored. If you're bored, go hang out with your friends and play video games or ride your bike or whatever. Don't do this, uh, because there are consequences, as we just discussed.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

So on the legitimate juvenile justice side, but you also have a society we're encroaching upon a quarter million people here, and there's a wide diverse pattern of thought with with our citizenry. Uh, we are also now a constitutional carry state, an open carry state, and some people um will really protect their property. So you could get yourself in a really, really dangerous situation doing that with with some people in our society. So find another way to beat the boredom. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

When people get alerts now, you know, you you hear your there's motion by your front door, it rings to your phone, you go check it out. It's not like, oh, I find my car was, you know, ransacked in the morning. It's you know, right then at 2 30 in the morning, and you go maybe confront the problem yourself, which creates a a huge you know, security risk for one party or the other.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Yeah, it could be bad. So, but yeah, good stuff, good work, and speaking of summer, winding down, something else is gonna be ramping up.

Back To School Zone Safety

SPEAKER_00 14:15

And the start of school is uh less than a month away. I know. Very beginning of August. I think it's the eighth, somewhere around there.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

You've got black school age 11th. I think it's August 11th. Which I'm like, it's a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah, it's anyway, very, very soon, and we've had uh I guess you call it a reprieve. We the red speed school zone um camera system has been off for the summer. There's routine maintenance for it, and there's no schooling session. Uh there was an option uh not to do it for the limited amount of campuses that have summer school, but it is coming back. And it would be a good idea as you're doing your commute for the next couple of weeks, familiarize yourself on your home to work, home to daycare. Anywhere you're going routinely, know the school zones in your area. And then what can often catch people is if they don't routinely go to the doctor, but the route to the doctor takes you through a school zone. The signs are up, even though they're not active, the posts are there, the lights aren't flashing, but the the mech the hardware is in place. Good idea to take the next couple of weeks to familiarize yourself or re-acclimate yourself to your surroundings on your traditional routes and know where those school zones are, and then be prepared. Uh, the first day of school is gonna come, there's gonna be eight million buses around. Uh, there are several hundred cars per campus doing drop-off. And there are many, many people who it's their first year at school, their first year going from elementary to middle or middle to high school, new to the area. There's a lot of unfamiliarity. It is crazy town the first week or so.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Yeah, the first week is always really hectic and stressful for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

It slows down or becomes more routine. People get used to it. The school, there's new people that work at the school that are used to the flow. So everybody's getting used to it. We're all in this together. Um a few weeks into school, it really settles into a groove. But the first week for sure, and maybe the first or second week, it can be a little hairy. We get it, everybody gets it. It's it's gonna be that.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yep. So uh maybe practice going the speed limit or at least 10 under the speed limit now. You know, get used to working that m muscle.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yeah. Just just familiarize yourself, be ready. And uh beyond that, beyond the ticket, it there's gonna be a ton of kids out.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Definitely, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:02

And that's what it's really about. So there's gonna be kids walking on the sidewalks, crossing, there's crossing guards, you know, be ready for them. Um, bikes, e-bikes, scooters, parent drop-off. It there's a whole city that's gonna be dropped in and imported on top of the city. Yeah, right. And that's the school environment.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

So kids with their faces and their device when they're crossing the road.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yeah, all the stuff is coming back. So be ready and um good opportunity to take a couple weeks to to catch a breath because here it comes.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Here it comes. All

Final Reminders And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 17:38

right, Chief. Well, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Got it. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

We will see you next time. Yep. Have a good one. Stay safe.