For the editor:
A few days ago, I reviewed the top 64 stories in the “Crime” section of Villages-News.com, curious to see the types of crimes being committed here. Interesting results:
SMALL FLIGHT (6). Guy paid the check at Perkins, $60 stolen from golf cart, shoplifted wine, homeless man caught with stolen shopping cart, etc.
FLIGHT NOT SO SMALL (6). Items stolen included a leaf blower, automobile, concrete saw, theft of utilities (a woman reopened her water after it was shut off due to non-payment of the bill), use a stolen credit card, etc.
ASSAULT (domestic) (3) Two women attacked some guys, one guy attacked a woman.
DUI (13)
TRAFFIC OFFENSES (12) Of which 10 included driving without a valid driver’s licence, 1 for speeding, 1 for leaving the scene of the accident. Three of the 13 individuals had either illicit drugs or drug paraphernalia at the time of their arrest. One of the arrests included harassment.
ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF DRUG (10), primarily possession of illegal drugs (fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana, etc.), one arrested for writing false prescriptions, one for possession of cocaine while masturbating in public, parole violation for possession of illegal drugs, etc. .
MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES (14), including a man caught fleeing police on a vehicular murder charge, three counts of witness tampering by a woman, unlawful possession of a gun, battery on a LEO (a woman on a drug trip jumped out of an ambulance and attacked a cop), a plea of not guilty to a charge of assault on a golf course, a bomb threat by a schoolboy, a prostitution offense, a few resisting arrest charges, a guy arrested for skipping his court date, and so on. .
Here is the point. For most of us who come from or near major metropolitan areas, most (not all, certainly) of these crimes would never have even made the headlines. When gang killings, mob violence, big box smash-and-grabs, the trashing of entire neighborhoods, child prostitution rings, drug-related killings, the proliferation of “camps of homelessness with anarchy within them, rapes, robberies, etc. etc Headlining the articles in the “Crime” section of Villages-News.com arouse little more than mild amusement. And we should be thankful for that: compared to much of America, The Villages is a well-run and regulated paradise. To put it into perspective, before I moved here I had a carry license and never left the house without a gun. In The Villages, I never even felt the need to wear.
For my part, I credit the forces of order. I have believed for some time now that the LEOs of television and surrounding communities keep big crime away by maintaining constant pressure on petty offenders. I’m sure the cops know who the frequent flyers are: many of those traffic stops where a drug dog “alerts” to the presence of drugs resulting in arrests are, in my opinion, NOT accidents. We should all be grateful to live somewhere where the cops are allowed (and encouraged) to do their job, rather than in so many large urban areas where the cops are routinely chastised just for doing their job, constantly vilified by the press and the public, and even in too many cases, live under the threat of a reduction or even a total stoppage of their funding.
We are lucky to have the law enforcement that we have.
Amaranth Palm
Village of the Alhambra
