Sheriff`s Corner

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's Sheriff's Corner. This week's column will finish the issue of proactive law enforcement and then move on to several updates on issues we've discussed before.

As we've discussed in the last two Corner's proactive policing is not necessarily a new issue of law enforcement philosophy. As a matter of fact, being proactive has always been the choice to impact on the yet to be committed crime.

When 911 happened, the theory that law enforcement needs to know what's happening everywhere came into focus. Law enforcement is constantly and extremely active in intelligence gather and sharing. We hear about crime trends and other situations happening around our county, state and nation. If we don't reach out to these other locations we won't know if what they are experiencing will affect us. That means we reach out and share with our Police Departments, other Sheriff's Offices and State and Federal agencies. We have learned that what is happening in Levy County is usually happening in other jurisdictions. A good example of this is the recent "four-wheeler" thefts. If we had not looked to and shared with Dixie, Gilchrist and Alachua counties, we might not have solved as many of those cases as we have. We also, recently, experienced a theft of two motorcycles. Volusia County came in contact with those bikes, contacted us and even interviewed the suspects, ultimately getting a confession.

Our most important intelligence exchange happens between you our citizens and us. The more we talk, the more we learn. We like this because we end up knowing you better and are better able to understand your crime. We look forward to working with you. If you have any information concerning any crime you can call us or Crime Stoppers at 1-877-349-8477.