Tampa police cut crime another 16 percent

TAMPA - ROC -- or Rapid Offender Control -- officers stopped a man Tuesday for acting suspiciously in a neighborhood hard hit by burglaries. It turned out he had a warrant for burglary.

"You gotta be joking," the man exclaimed as the handcuffs went on.

But the ROC officers are anything but a joke to Tampa's new police chief.

"ROC officers," said Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor, "are tasked with identifying the crime patterns and offenders in their area of responsibility and then attacking them with a sense of urgency."

In the Temple Heights neighborhood, ROC officers arrive at a burglary scene; it's happened within the hour.

Walking up, street officers brief the ROCs: "Is it a kick-in?" "Yeah, the same house as a week ago."

After a burglary like this one, the way it used to work, was that marked units would refer the case to detectives. Time would pass. But not anymore.

Now, the ROC officers are on top of it, taking over from the marked units, immediately looking for suspects from among their list of known criminals.

ROC Officer Ken Petrillo, searching for a car used in the burglary, told FOX 13 about the new squads. "The cases that we get to work, you actually get to sink your teeth into an investigation and follow through to closure. It's rewarding to the officer."

Police say ideas like ROC are why Tampa's crime has dropped 56 percent in the last seven years.

"When we can prevent 20,000 people a year from being victims of crime," offered Mayor Pam Iorio, "just think of the enhancement, the quality of life that is superior in the city of Tampa when people feel safe in their own home."

Officers and neighbors say it's that constant pressure aimed at crime trouble spots that has made the difference.

"When I moved there 10 years ago, I literally picked up crack cans, condoms, bullets, needles," recalled Fran Costantino of the East Ybor Historic and Civic Association. Now? "None."

Back in his undercover truck, officer Petrillo was on the phone with a burglary suspect's girlfriend.

"Is there a number," he asks, "I can call him at?"