A newly formed police unit within the St. Petersburg Police Department is cracking down on crimes committed by repeat offenders through increased monitoring and surveillance. The Career Offender Tracking and Apprehension Unit, or COTA for short, is tasked with monitoring the most dangerous “career offenders,” in St. Petersburg. The special unit consisting of twelve detectives and one analyst. The COTA personnel focus primarily on less than three-hundred adult and juvenile offenders who have multiple convictions for serious felony crimes such as burglary and grand theft offense. As part of its objectives, the unit also monitors the various neighborhood-based gangs across the city.
The Career Offender Tracking and Apprehension unit was formed this September upon the premise that, since most crimes are committed by a small group of offenders, law enforcement should focus heavily on those career offenders and aggressively monitor and pursue them when necessary. According to the agency, this strategy of aggressively targeting career criminals is already paying dividends. The City of St. Petersburg has recently reported that the COTA unit’s approach has cut automobile thefts alone by 43 percent and reduced burglaries by 20 percent this year.
While the unit is firmly committed to quickly apprehending career criminals when they commit new crimes, not all of its activities take a purely reactive approach. In fact, the unit has placed great emphasis on educating the offenders under its supervision. This is especially true with the juvenile offenders targeted by the unit,. The St. Petersburg Police Department feels that these juvenile offenders are far less likely to continue to commit crimes if they know that their whereabouts will routinely be monitored and scrutinized.
Detectives and personnel within the COTA unit regularly check with school officials and family members to make sure that the past offenders are regularly attending school during the day and obeying court-imposed probationary conditions.. For many officers of the COTA unit, this means visiting the offender’s family to guarantee their compliance. It also means checking on adult offenders to ascertain whether they are complying with curfews. Our office has concerns about these otherwise law-abiding persons being “targeted.” We also question whether such monitoring of court imposed conditions, and the verification of school attendance properly falls under the purview of law enforcement. After all, isn’t that suppose to be the job of probation officers?
So far, the unit’s approach has received approval from the local judiciary. The general consensus of Pinellas judges is that the program is correctly and effectively targeting the offenders most at-risk to commit more crimes in the future. The response from the local State Attorney’s Office has been emphatically positive, with one Assistant State Attorney telling the press that the program is finally doing something about career criminals that are confident they can "beat the system.”
Arrested for a Criminal Offense in St. Petersburg or Clearwater?
We are experienced criminal defense lawyers who routinely handle misdemeanor and felony criminal cases within the the St. Petersburg and Clearwater area. When someone is charged with a criminal offense, they not only need an attorney, but also need to know how to select the right attorney for their case. At Russo & Russo, our goal is always to pursue strategies designed to avoid conviction and jail.
Contact our office for a free consultation at: (727) 578-0303
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Visit our Drunk Driving website at: www.duistpetersburglawyer.com
Other Related Links:
The Florida Career Offender Registration Act
Will You be Treated as a Habitual Offender?
St. Petersburg Times Article On the COTA Unit
Consider Possible Solutions For Your Pinellas Criminal Charge
St. Petersburg Police Department’s Post Regarding COTA in the St. Petersburg Times
Sealing or Expunging a Pinellas Criminal Record
St. Petersburg Times Expose Regarding COTA’s Role in Combating Gang Activity
Fort Lauderdale Police Department Website with Information Regarding the Department’s “Career Criminal Unit”
Three Strikes Law
The Prison Releasee Reoffender Program
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