Riverside sees dramatic spike in car break-ins

Councilman: JSO struggling to hire more officers to keep up with increased crime

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Car break-ins have dramatically increased in the historic Riverside neighborhood on Jacksonville's Westside, according to city leaders. 

There has recently been a rash of vehicle break-ins near the Riverside YMCA, but City Councilman Jim Love said that's just the latest aspect of a disturbing crime trend. 

Love, who represents the area, said he had just met with the police chief of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Zone 4, which includes Riverside and much of the Westside, and learned that car burglaries are up 40 percent over the last year.

"The car break-ins are way up over last year. They’re up over 40 percent. A lot of them are because there are folks that are going around, checking car doors and if they're open, they ransack the car and take whatever they can get. And, unfortunately, in some cases -- about one out of every 10 cars -- they’re stealing a handgun, a weapon. And that’s not a good thing," Love said.

Love said a lot of the break-ins are being done by minors, and he's considering a pushing for legislation that strengthens juvenile sentencing guidelines to keep repeat offenders from breaking into cars and scaring people like Ardis Davis, who has used the Riverside YMCA since the 1990s. 

Davis was one the victims who had her car window broken and purse -- containing $300 in cash and many gift cards -- stolen last week outside the newly constructed Winston Family YMCA on Riverside Avenue.

"I'm very afraid now. When I go there, I'm looking got a place to park, very leery of the situation because it was a well-lit area. I was parked right behind the Y. The street is dark. There's not lights and I really fear for my life now," Davis said. "I have gone back, but I kind of drive around the lot, 'Oh no. Where am I going to park today? Am I going to be safe? Is someone going to attack me?'"

Love told News4Jax Thursday that he plans to meet soon with state Rep. Jay Fant to discuss juvenile sentencing guidelines, specifically to discuss children who have been arrested more than five times and ways to stop them from repeating crimes. 

JSO struggles to hire enough officers to keep up with increased auto burglaries

In addition to talking with state legislators about increasing the severity of punishment for juvenile repeat offenders, Love said he's also considering legislation to push for an out-of-state hiring drive for JSO.

As Riverside and the Westside struggles with increased auto burglaries, Love said, the Sheriff's Office struggles to hire enough officers to keep pace with crime needs.

Love said he also talked to the head of human resources for JSO, who said the law enforcement agency is having a hard time hiring more police officers.

"He's hiring them as fast as he can hire them, and it's not fast enough. So we talked about going outside of the state to look for folks, particularly with prior military, to try to hire folks faster, get them up and running on the police force," Love said. 

Gil Smith, News4Jax crime and safety analyst, explained that's easier said than done. He said it's going to be hard to attract former military members to Jacksonville to become police officers because of the ongoing pension debate at City Hall.

"That may be difficult also because, if you're in the military with a family, you want to know what your benefits are going to be. You want to know what your pension benefits are going to be. JSO can't answer those questions right now," Smith said.

In addition, Smith said, the city's drop program that forces officers into a retirement program after 20 years contributes to the problem.

"Then they go into a program for five years where they're gaining interest on their money, which is added to their pension. So once they retire, they have five more years of service, then they have to retire. So you have a lot of officers leaving every quarter," Smith said. 

Smith also said that JSO has not been able to retain young officers because the pension mess is causing many new recruits to leave after a few years of service to go to a different department. 


About the Author:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.