BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— A Clay County deputy told a Lake Region business group that one barrier to fighting crime is that many victims now don’t report crimes to the sheriff’s office, choosing instead to complain about the offenses on social media.
Deputy Dimitri Santiago spoke to the Keystone-Lake Region Business Association during the group’s Oct. 12 meeting at the Montgomery Presbyterian Center.
Santiago told the group that quick communication from citizens to the sheriff’s office allowed deputies to recently arrest individuals responsible for vandalism at Keystone Beach Park.
“We were very fortunate to have some help,” he said of witnesses and bystanders. “We were able to catch the people that were responsible for it.”
He added however, that more and more, victims are not reporting crimes to law enforcement.
“Our biggest thing is, we need reports,” he said. “We need someone to say something. I hear back and forth through social media of different businesses that are having problems with cut water lines or missing air conditioner parts, but this is just being talked about. It’s not being reported.”
Santiago said that if a crime is not reported to the sheriff’s office, law enforcement cannot help victims. He added that his agency has a strong record of solving crimes in the Lake Region.
“We’ve shown time and time again that if things are reported, especially in Keystone, we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” he said.
Santiago said the Lake Region does not have the big crime problems the northern part of the county has, and that his boss Sheriff Michelle Cook has made a point of not forgetting about Keystone Heights.
“With the vandalism, as soon as I heard, my first thought was: I’m going to get a call from Sheriff Cook, so I’ve got to do something before that call happens,” Santiago recalled.
He added that within eight hours of receiving the call about the crime, he had suspects in custody.
When asked why people are not reporting crime to officials, Santiago said he had no answer.
“If they think: ‘Why should I call? Nothing’s going to get done.’ That’s absolutely false,” he said.
The deputy added that as a Keystone Heights resident himself, he takes crime in the Lake Region personally.
Santiago also speculated that it is easier for a victim to post information about an incident on Facebook than to meet with a deputy and fill out paperwork.
It’s a little bit easier,” he said. “It’s right in front of them.”
Santiago was also asked about the root causes of crime in the Lake Region. He responded by saying that drugs, deficient parenting and teenage idleness are the leading causes of crime in the area.
“That’s a huge factor in Keystone,” he said. “About 90% of our juvenile problem is there are no resources for them. There’s nothing for them to do.”
“We still have juveniles, young adults with nothing to do but to get into trouble: destroy people’s property, destroy businesses because there are no other resources for them.”
