CITY POLICE TARGET CRIMES OF PROPERTY

Changes At TPD Designed To Curb Meth Scourge, Repeat Shoplifting

The Tucson Police Department will begin its new focus on property crime
next week as part of a reorganization.

Some of the changes coming include seeking tougher charges for repeat
offenders and doing more to address the city's methamphetamine problem that
causes property crimes.

Capt. Terry Rozema, a former South Side substation supervisor and Police
Department chief of staff, is leading a new property-crime division. He
will divide the investigations workload with Capt. Kevin Mayhew, who
oversees units including violent crime, family crime and sex crime.

The split will ensure more time is devoted to each area - crimes against
people and property crimes, Police Department leaders have said.

Local property-crime victims say they are glad police are finally devoting
time and attention to these investigations, but more police are needed to
really keep neighborhoods safe.

The Tucson metro area has a property-crime rate roughly twice the national
rate, and Tucson has ranked the highest in property-crime rate in the
nation for the past two years. About one in 10 people in Tucson were the
victims of a property crime in 2003, according to police statistics. And
more property crimes were reported in 2004 than 2003, according to
preliminary figures.

One reason for the high number is better reporting, Rozema said, noting
most property crimes in Tucson are shoplifting cases.

Programs allow retailers to take a shoplifting suspect's information to
later report to police, rather than calling 911 immediately and waiting
several hours for a police officer to become available. They catch more
shoplifters when they're not spending time waiting for police, he said.
People who are cited this way have to go to a police station to sign the
citation or a warrant for their arrest is issued.

There's more to the frustrating problem of property crime than shoplifting.
There are also burglaries, larcenies and auto thefts.

"I don't believe that we've gotten our fair share of police concern and
police presence in our neighborhood," said Ann Sprague, a local scientist
and president of the Fox Hideaway Homeowners Association in the Starr Pass
area.

During the past year, as construction brought strangers into that area, the
property-crime problem grew. And with no police presence, homes were easy
targets, she said.

"We were having windows popped out of cars that were parked in people's
driveways and goods taken from inside the cars," she said. And lawn
furniture was stolen from front yards.

The homeowners got together to write a letter to the mayor, the police
chief, their legislators and the CEO of the Starr Pass developments.

"I think they were responsive to our concerns," Sprague said. They received
letters in reply and an arrest was made early one morning.

She thinks the new police emphasis on property crimes will make a
difference in her neighborhood, she said.

Rozema agrees property crime is "out of control" here, he said. "But this
certainly isn't a problem where we're doomed. We're going to make a
difference and we're going to bring down the property-crime numbers."

Rozema himself has been a victim of property crime. His truck was broken
into and a bike was stolen from his house.

"You feel violated," he said. "I understand people's anger."

To really make a difference, he said, the Police Department should look at
every step of the problem, from the crime to the prosecution, but
especially at the source - drugs.

"The meth culture is a huge driving force behind the property crime,"
Rozema said, because people using meth steal items to sell for drug money.

Locals likely won't see a difference in policing immediately. For the first
few months, the property-crime team will examine what is being done to
address property crime - and what can be done better.

"They've got a lot of great ideas," Rozema said. "The difference is now
there's a lot of support."

They'll also look to other agencies as models.

The Phoenix Police Department, for example, has a pawn-shop unit that is
dedicated to investigating the sales of stolen goods, recovering stolen
property from pawn shops, and working with pawn-shop dealers to make sure
rules are followed. The Tucson Police Department has just one person
devoted to pawn shops.

There are about 200 people with felony warrants who have been selling items
at pawn shops, Rozema said. Those people could become targets of the
property-crime units.

Rozema also wants to evaluate why some people arrested on property-crime
charges are never prosecuted. He said he knows of people who have been
arrested a dozen times in two years without punishment.

He'd like the team to work with prosecutors to use an existing law about
aggravated shoplifting, he said. The charge is a felony instead of a
misdemeanor for people who have shoplifted in at least three different
stores in three days or people who have committed two or more property
crimes within the past five years.

Some residents say the most important thing is getting more officers on the
streets to monitor neighborhoods. The reorganization plan doesn't add any
officers.

"We're real short of cops on the street here," said Donna Calvert, who has
lived on the East Side for 21 years. "It's getting worse, and I don't think
the current administration of the Police Department is putting enough
emphasis on getting officers on the street."

A couple of days after Christmas, Calvert got a call from a neighbor, who
told her her house near East Golf Links Road and South Pantano Parkway was
burglarized.

Calvert called police, who arrived right away. They found that the burglar
had tried to kick in her door, but a deadbolt held. Instead, the burglar
lifted a window out of its frame to get in and take entertainment equipment
and heirloom jewelry.

"It's disappointing because they were pieces that had sentimental value,"
Calvert said.

There has so far been no arrest in the crime and Calvert doesn't expect
one, she said.

Rozema and his South Side team recently were recognized for planning and
implementing a strategy that included putting more officers on the streets.
They won an award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police
for plans that brought crime rates down by 25 percent in the Kino Coalition
neighborhoods.

The plans included more police presence, public awareness campaigns, more
traffic stops and search warrants on problem houses, and identifying key
players in crime rings. The team took about 100 suspected crack dealers off
the streets.

What To Do

* How to report property crime to the Tucson Police Department:

* Online: www.ci.tucson.az.us/ police/On_Line_Reporting/

* Phone: 791-4444 if not an emergency.

* In person: Visit a police substation during business hours.

* In an emergency: Or if you're unsure of how to report a crime, call 911.

Plan Basics

* Tucson Police Department reorganization includes:

* Splitting the field-patrol units into two bureaus.

* Moving traffic, K-9, SWAT, air support and the bomb squad to the two bureaus.

* Adding a logistics captain to plan new facilities and a new regional
radio system.

* Putting two lieutenants in charge of nighttime work.