Coconut Grove crime at an all time low

With his fingers crossed, Miami Police Department Cmdr. Jorge Colina stood before members at a recent Village West Homeowners & Tenants Association meeting with dramatic news: There had been no reported robberies in Coconut Grove in the first 27 days of September.

With three days to go, Colina was not sure then that his hope for a robbery-free month would hold.

It did.

While there were four stolen tags, five stolen cars, eight retail thefts and 10 low-profile assaults, there were no robberies — or any other kind of violent crime. In fact, there has not been a murder or rape in Coconut Grove in six months.

“To have a report of zero robberies is an anomaly. It’s almost freakish,” said Miami Lt. Daniel Kerr who scoured police archives to check for similar occurrences. “We have searched as far back as the 1981 and have yet to find a month like this one.”

“The big three in violent crimes are murder, rape and robberies. We have had many months without a rape or murder. This is the norm in Coconut Grove, even in the West Grove area. But what excites me is that we had no robberies for the first time in one month,” Colina added.

The last time Coconut Grove had a case of rape was in November 2009. With the arrest of a suspect in January there have been no other cases, police said. The only murder case for the 2010 calendar year up to October occurred in May. It involved two homeless men under the influence of drugs.

“The only thing we have had a problem with this month is car break-ins, and we are looking into that and working with residents to solve this problem,” said Neighborhood Resource Officer Leo Carrillo.

September’s record is indicative of a decline of overall crime in Coconut Grove, the officers say. Over the past year, Coconut Grove has had fewer than 100 robberies. This year Coconut Grove was averaging five to six robberies a month between January and April. Since then, the number has dropped even more, with the community averaging two to three robberies a month from May until now.

In contrast, Colina recalled one month alone in the late 1990s had 85 reports of robberies.

“Community policing works in the Grove,” Colina said at the September homeowners and tenants meeting. Commander for the Coconut Grove Police District for almost a year, Colina said he and Neighborhood Resource Officers Leo Carrillo and Joseph Guell assigned to the West Grove strive to increase communication with residents. The officers patrol the area on bike or foot and attend community meetings.

“We go to all the HOATA meetings and the response we get is that everything is positive. The best thing is that crime is coming down. Hopefully within the next year or so Publix will be coming to our area and that will also bring positive energy to the West Grove,” said Carrillo.

Another meeting frequently attended by the officers is the All-Grove Crimewatch, which brings crime watch organizations from residential areas and the business community together to work with law enforcement agencies.

Robert Loupo, who co-chairs the All-Grove Crimewatch, said he was happy to learn of the Grove’s success in stemming crime.

“When we compare a month in 2010 with what it was last year, we see that every month we are doing better,” he said.

“What is most important is that the community knows we want to partner with them for greater success,” Colina said.

Rick Holton, who worked over the summer with Colina on a youth crime-awareness project with police and the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative in West Grove, agrees.

“We have finally realized that crime is not just the responsibility of the officers but also of the citizens,” said Holton, a Groveite who retired as a Miami-Dade Police lieutenant.

“What has had a tremendous impact in the reduction of robberies and violent crime is that in September we have recovered between 37 and 38 guns. These are guns off the street and out of the hands of potential violence,” Colina said. All of the recovered fire arms were confiscated during a drug search or a nonviolent arrest. “The guns were taken off the street without any altercation,” added Colina.

Although October has continued to show a downturn in crime in the Grove, it will not go down as the area’s second robbery-free month. So far, there has been one reported robbery.

Colina, nevertheless, said he is pleased with the overall picture.

“We are down in planned robberies 38 percent for the year and we are down 46 percent for sudden-snatch robberies. We have the least amount of robberies in any net area in the city of Miami.”

Coconut Grove has seen a total of 40 robberies since the beginning of this year compared to Allapattah reporting 296 robberies since January, Little Haiti 237, Little Havana 204 and Model City 209.