Q: Can you give a run down of current crime trends in St. Johns County?
A: I think it’s important for our citizens to know that this is not a crime-free area. Most of our largest increases are in the non-violent categories, including some, like burglary from a motor vehicle, which are mostly preventable (lock your car doors!)
A caveat to the numbers I’m going to share is that about two years ago, we changed reporting systems that we use to report to the federal government from UCR (Uniform Crime Report) to NIBRS (National Incident Based Reporting System), which is more incident-based. This year will be our first full year using this new reporting system and everyone, including the FBI, expected an increase in crime reporting data due to the change.
Q: What categories saw the largest increases?
A: The significant increases were not in violent crime, but in property crime. Shoplifting, for example, increased by 86 percent (from 209 cases last year to 390 year to date this year). A big reason for that is that we nearly doubled our retail property with the addition of the Durbin Pavilion center as well as Costco, Home Depot and Buc-ee’s. The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is working with these businesses to combat shoplifting by utilizing undercover operations as well as bike and foot patrols. Also, we are working with the State Attorney’s Office to ensure proper charges are applied, especially in the case of repeat offenders. Additionally, our Real Time Intelligence Center is using the latest technology to assist in solving these crimes.
Other categories with increases were General Theft (a catchall category of theft that doesn’t include shoplifting or construction theft) with an increase of 35 percent. Construction site theft also increased 35 percent, from 20 cases in 2021 to 27 cases in 2022. Commercial burglary increased from 25 cases in 2021 to 44 cases in 2022.
Q: What were the statistics for violent crimes?
A: Fortunately our numbers are low here, but we still unfortunately had increases. Aggravated assault, which is the intention of doing bodily harm with a weapon, but not actually doing it, was up from 44 cases in 2021 to 64 cases in 2022 (45 percent). Sex crimes, which include lewd and lascivious and sexual assault, was up from 28 cases last year to 40 cases this year. And, tracking with the national average, battery on a law enforcement officer was up 40 percent, from 22 cases in 2021 to 31 cases in 2022.
Q: What about the “mostly preventable” crimes that you mentioned?
A: With the new NIBRS reporting, we now call this burglary of a motor vehicle, and it’s up 14 percent, from 223 cases in 2021 to 256 cases in 2022. We’ve discussed this before — more than 90 percent of these cases are items stolen from unlocked cars. Many of these cases can be prevented by locking your car door at night.
Q: What else do you have to share?
A: We want you to call us to report crime. If you see something, say something! If it’s an emergency, call 911. You can call our non-emergency number at (904) 824-8304 if that’s appropriate. We want to work together to live in one of the safest communities in the state and in the nation.
Q: What is the best way for our readers to contact you with any questions or suggestions about this article?
A: They can email me at sheriff@sjso.org or call me at (904) 824-8304. Also, our website, www.sjso.org has a wealth of resources, from alarm registration to Crime Stoppers.
