BRADENTON BEACH – Crime is down in Bradenton Beach.
“Last year I stood up here and I told you crime couldn’t go any lower in the city of Bradenton Beach, but our overall crime went down 43.5% from last year,” Police Chief John Cosby said during his annual crime report to the city commission on May 2.
Cosby said local crime statistics are built into the police software and Lt. Lenard Diaz puts the tabulation together and sends reports to federal and state law enforcement agencies. Those agencies then tabulate the statistics and send a report back to Bradenton Beach Police.
“Our property value crime went down. Last year, our stolen property was at $41,000, which is theft and auto burglary,” Cosby said. “This year it was only $4,100 of property taken, so that is a drop of 89%. I’m really happy about that.”
Cosby introduced night shift officers Roy Joslin, Devon Straight, Eric Hill and Ryan Gagliano.
“The weekend night team works from 5 (p.m.) to 7 (a.m.) during the busiest days,” Cosby said.
Cosby encourages his officers to use the community policing model, in which relationships are developed with members of the public.
“I encourage my officers to stop and talk to everybody,” Cosby said. “We’re fortunate we have a lot of longtime officers that people know. We encourage a lot of foot patrol too, on Bridge Street and the pier and even the neighborhoods. Even our newer guys are very friendly and ready to talk and to do their job.”
Cosby said laws are a tool, but officers are mainly looking for compliance.
“Sometimes that doesn’t work and you have to take action and that’s the way it goes,” Cosby said.
He said the biggest enforcement issue may be tourists and drinking.
“They’re getting drunk and they’re getting bulletproof and they like to fight each other, but other than that, we’re doing good,” Cosby said.
“Great job chief and everything you’ve been doing,” Mayor John Chappie said. “I constantly get comments from citizens and businesses, elected officials and the tourists just how happy they are. We’re no longer that pass-through community we used to be, we’re a destination now.”
Chappie said that one of the major goals of the Community Redevelopment Agency was to make the central area of the city a family-friendly environment.
“There was a time a few years ago, when families were out until 7 or 8, that’s when the hard drinking used to start,” Cosby said. “Now we’re seeing young families out until 10 o’clock or so.”
“It is such a transformation,” Chappie said. “This is a celebration of a really great
