Florida Property Crimes & Theft

Property Crimes Overview

• Property crimes involve interfering with or obtaining money, property, or benefits from a victim.
• The primary impact is depriving someone of their property use or enjoyment.
• Secondary impacts may include physical or mental harm to the victim.

Theft (Chapter 812, Florida Statutes)

• Occurs when a person:
  • Knowingly obtains or uses, or tries to, another person's property.
  • Intends to temporarily or permanently deprive the victim of their property rights or benefits.
  • Takes the property for their own use or the use of someone not entitled to it.
• Robbery differs as it involves taking directly from a person, making it a crime against a person, unlike theft and burglary, which are property crimes.
• Property includes real, tangible, intangible personal property, and services (anything of value from physical or mental labor/skill).
• Service examples: repairs, professional services, communication, transportation, lodging, entertainment admissions.
• Victims can provide helpful information such as descriptions, unique characteristics, serial numbers, value, last known location, and potential witnesses.

Penalties for Theft

• Petty theft (property valued at $100 or more but less than $750) is a first-degree misdemeanor.
• A third or subsequent petty theft conviction is a third-degree felony.
• Theft of property valued at less than $100, or if the value cannot be established, is a second-degree misdemeanor.
• Grand theft involves items valued at $750 or more, items specified by statute, or items valued at $100 or more taken from a dwelling or enclosed land surrounding a dwelling, and can be a felony.
• Theft includes identity theft and fraud.
• Florida law increases penalties if the victim is 65 years or older.

Theft of Food, Lodging (Chapter 509, Florida Statutes)

• Occurs when someone orders food/lodging and refuses to pay.
• Businesses and officers are protected from liability if they follow the statute's terms.

Retail Theft

• Businesses can be victims through shoplifting, embezzlement, skimming, smash-and-grab, hijacking, or quick-change scams.
• Arrests are permitted without a warrant, even if the offense isn't committed in your presence.
• Retail theft involves:
  • Taking merchandise, money, or documents.
  • Altering labels/tags.
  • Transferring merchandise between containers.
  • Removing shopping carts with intent to deprive the merchant.
• Possessing or using anti-shoplifting countermeasures is a felony.
• Facility operators or law enforcement with probable cause may detain suspects to recover the property or for prosecution.

Motor Vehicle Theft

• When responding:
  • Get a vehicle description from the victim.
  • Ask where the vehicle was parked.
  • Check for keys, family involvement, broken glass, or drag marks.
  • Contact dispatch to check for repossession.
  • Verify ownership using DAVID.
  • Check for tracking devices.
  • Initiate a BOLO (Be On the Lookout).
  • Enter the plate number and VIN as stolen.
• Recovering a stolen vehicle involves a similar process in reverse.
  • Check for damage and the license plate.
  • Remove the vehicle from FCIC/NCIC.
  • Contact the vehicle owner.
  • Arrange for towing or pickup.

Dealing in Stolen Property

• Metals, electronics, jewelry, and firearms are commonly trafficked.
• Selling, transferring, or disposing of stolen property with knowledge that it is stolen is a crime.
• Suspects can be charged with resisting if they resist reasonable attempts to recover stolen property.

Criminal Mischief (Chapter 806, Florida Statutes)

• The willful and malicious destruction of another person's property.
• Includes injury or damage to property, graffiti, and vandalism.
• Documentation requires: proving the suspect injured or damaged property, that the property belonged to the complainant, and that the damage was willful and malicious.
• Photograph the damage and canvas the area.

Penalties for Criminal Mischief

• Second-degree misdemeanor: property damage less than $200.
• First-degree misdemeanor: property damage greater than $200 but less than $1,000.
• Third-degree felony: property damage totals $1,000 or more.
• Subsequent offense is a felony, regardless of damage amount, if the suspect has a prior conviction for criminal mischief.
• Damaging a place of worship or religious article is a third-degree felony if the damage is over $200.

Trespassing (Chapter 810, Florida Statutes)

• Occurs when a person:
  • Willfully enters or remains in a structure, conveyance, or property without authorization, license, or invitation.
  • Willfully enters or remains after being told to leave.
• A person authorized includes the owner, lessee, their agent, or a law enforcement officer with written authorization to communicate an order to depart.

Misdemeanor Trespassing

• Occurs when:
  • A notice against entering is communicated or posted and disregarded.
  • Someone enters and remains on property intending to commit another offense.
  • Someone stays on the premises after law enforcement warns them.
  • A transient person refuses to leave a residential property after law enforcement directs them to.
  • Someone enters or stays on a school campus without authorization.
  • A student who is expelled enters a school campus.
  • Someone is on a school campus without legitimate business.

Felony Trespassing

• Occurs when:
  • Trespassing on a designated posted commercial horticulture property.
  • Trespassing on a designated posted agricultural site for testing and research.
  • Trespassing on a designated posted agricultural chemical manufacturing facility.
  • Trespassing on school property while possessing a firearm or weapon.
  • Trespassing on a designated posted Domestic Violence Shelter.
  • Launching a projectile across someone else's land with the intent to take or kill an animal.
  • Entering or remaining on a designated posted construction site.
  • Trespassing on a legally posted operational area of an airport.

Burglary (Chapter 810, Florida Statutes)

• Unlawful entry into any structure with the intent to commit a crime inside.
• Penalties depend on the type of location (dwelling, structure, conveyance).
• Documentation requires proving at least two of the following:
  • The suspect entered a structure or conveyance owned by or in the possession of the complainant.
  • The suspect intended to commit a crime in that structure or conveyance.
  • The suspect was not licensed or invited to enter, and the premises were not open to the public.
• Burglary also involves being somewhere without the owner's permission but with the intent to commit another crime.
• Causing damage during unlawful entry is considered part of the burglary, unless there is intentional vandalism, in which case criminal mischief charges can apply.

Enhanced Penalties for Burglary apply when:

• The suspect commits assault or battery during a burglary.
• The suspect is armed.
• The suspect uses a vehicle to damage the property.
• Damage exceeds $1,000.
• The dwelling, structure, or conveyance was occupied.

Burglary Tools

• Include screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches, pry bars, spark plugs, rocks, or concrete blocks.
• Entry methods: unlocked doors/windows, hidden keys, removing hinge pins, breaking glass, kicking in doors, prying doors/windows, slipping/picking locks, using bump keys, garage door openers, or electronic decoders.
• A bump key is a key with pin positions cut to the lowest level, allowing it to bump open a lock.
• For possession of burglary tools, document intent to commit burglary or trespass and possession of a tool to be used in committing the crime.

Burglary Investigation

• Determine if it's in progress or delayed.
• In progress: notify backup, establish a perimeter, and request K9 and helicopter units.
• Delayed: take a statement, conduct a walkthrough, document everything taken, issue a BOLO, and secure any video footage within a specific timeframe.

Agricultural Sites (Chapter 267 F.S.)

• An agricultural site has prohibited practices.
• Secure the scene, notify a supervisor, and inform local, state, or federal park rangers.
• Removing an object from an agricultural site is a misdemeanor; digging into the site to retrieve an object is a felony.

White Collar Crimes

• A range of frauds committed by individuals, business professionals, and government officials.
• Involves dishonesty, cover-ups, or abuse of trust.

Fraud

• Intentional falsification of the truth to induce another person/entity to part with something of value or surrender legal rights.
• Common forms include credit card fraud, bank fraud, check fraud, and identity theft.
• Officers usually respond to delayed credit card fraud and file incident reports.

Forgery

• Forgery: Altering, forging, or counterfeiting a public record, certificate, legal document, bill of exchange, or promissory note with intent to injure or defraud.
• Uttering: Knowingly exhibiting or publishing a forged document or attempting to cash a check by claiming it's real.
• Uttering a false record, deed, or instrument with intent to injure or defraud is a third-degree felony.
• Common types of forgery: forged signatures/endorsements, fictitious names, and altered signatures.

Fraudulent Check

• The complainant is the financial institution.
• The victim is the person from whose account the funds were drawn.
• Get subject and vehicle descriptions, if possible. Photograph the document and submit it as evidence. Economic crime investigators typically investigate fraud.

Credit Card Fraud (Chapter 817, Florida Statutes)

• Unlawful use of a credit card to obtain property, goods, or services.
• Includes unauthorized use of information to obtain credit.
• Suspects may fraudulently obtain cards through falsified applications, theft, or robbery.
• Skimming: Extracting credit card information using a device attached to a point-of-sale system.
• It's a felony if a suspect fraudulently uses a victim's credit card three or more times within six months or charges $100 or more.
• Complainant: account holder; primary victim: issuing financial institution; other victims: merchants and persons whose names are forged.

Telephone Scams

• Solicitors misrepresent banks, agencies, or relatives, threatening arrest for refusing to pay debt or provide bail money.
• Location and identity can be hidden in digital communications.
• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) allows creating and using a phone number from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Phishing: Using fake digital communication to obtain personal financial information. Suspects can hide their identity by using public internet connections.

Identity Theft

• Unlawful possession or use of a person's identifying information to commit fraud.
• Detectives typically investigate; ensure jurisdiction over the victim's residence or where the activity occurred.
• If the crime occurred outside jurisdiction, file an incident report and ask if they want to prosecute.

Animal Cruelty (Chapter 828, Florida Statutes)

• Signs: starvation, parasites, tight collars, lack of medical attention/shelter, poor living conditions, weakness, and limping.
• Document misdemeanor cruelty: unnecessarily overloading, tormenting, depriving an animal of food/shelter, mutilating/killing, or carrying an animal cruelly.
• Aggravated animal cruelty (felony) involves intentionally committing an act or failing to act, resulting in cruel death or excessive/repeated pain/suffering.
• Fighting or baiting animals includes breeding, training, and promoting animals for fighting purposes.

Loitering and Prowling

• Lingering in a public area without a purpose is a crime if it raises alarm or concern.
• Consider if the person flees, refuses to identify themselves, conceals objects, or won't explain their presence.
• Initiate a consensual encounter; require the articulation of the totality of circumstances; if the person can ease your alarm, release them without charge.

Breach of Peace and Disorderly Conduct

• Includes brawling, fighting, or an affray (consensual fight) that terrorizes others.
• A person's actions must endanger the safety of another person or property and occur in a public place or on public transportation, causing a public disturbance.
• A public place is somewhere the public has a right to be.
• Document whether the suspect's actions corrupt public morals, outrage public decency, affect people's peace/quiet, or cause a brawl/fight.
• Cursing at others or officers is not disorderly conduct unless it threatens safety or incites a dangerous reaction. On-duty personel cannot be victims of breach of the peace.

Disorderly Intoxication (Chapter 856, Florida Statutes)

• Intoxication is losing normal control of body/mental faculties.
• Document that the suspect was intoxicated and endangered safety or caused a public disturbance.
• The difference between disorderly conduct and disorderly intoxication in the element of intoxication.

Open House Parties (Chapter 856, Florida Statutes)

• A social gathering at a residence is illegal if minors consume alcohol or drugs.
• The suspect must be 18 or older, in control of the residence, allowed the party, and allowed a minor to possess/consume alcohol/drugs, with knowledge of it.

Illicit Drugs and Vice Crimes

• Illicit drugs are smuggled, diverted, and intercepted from legitimate and illegal sources.
• Drug manufacturing, clandestine labs, or grow houses may be found.
• Prescription drug misuse is common including doctor shopping or stealing prescription pads.
• It is illegal to drive under the influence of medical marijuana.
• The Florida Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (Chapter 893, Florida Statutes) places controlled substances into five schedules based on medicinal value, harmfulness, and potential for misuse and addiction.

Drug Enforcement administration (DEA)

• the DEA website contains information about the schedules of Controlled Substances facts about commonly misused substances color photos methods of use behavioral characteristics signs symptoms and duration of effects

Possession of a Controlled Substance

• Document that the suspect:
  • Knew the substance was present.
  • Exercised control/ownership over the substance.
  • Knew the substance was illicit.
• Possession: Having personal charge or exercising ownership, management, or control.
• Actual Possession: The substance is on the suspect or within their easy reach and control. Mere proximity is insufficient.
• Constructive Possession: The substance is in a place the suspect controls or has concealed.
• Joint Possession: Two or more possess the substance, all are in possession.

Drug Trafficking (Chapter 893, Florida Statutes)

• Quantities of drugs that elevate a possession charge to drug trafficking:
  • Cannabis: excess of 25 lbs or exceeds 300 plants
  • Cocaine: excess of 28 grams
  • Hydrocodone: excess of 28 grams
  • Methamphetamine: excess of 14 grams
  • MDMA (Ecstasy): excess of 10 grams
  • Oxycodone: excess of 7 grams
  • LSD (Acid): excess of 1 gram
• Trafficking triggers a mandatory minimum prison sentence.

Drug Paraphernalia

• Equipment, products, and materials used to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow, harvest, manufacture, compound, convert, produce, process, prepare, test, analyze, pack, repack, store, contain, conceal, inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce a controlled substance into the human body.
• Items like pipes, rolling papers, straws, or spoons become paraphernalia when proven to be used for illicit drugs. Possession is a misdemeanor.

Vice Crimes

• Include alcohol and tobacco violations, gambling, and prostitution.
• Alcohol and tobacco violations frequently involve those under 21.
• Providing someone under 21 with alcohol or tobacco is a misdemeanor; possession by someone under 21 is also a misdemeanor.

Gambling (Chapter 849, Florida Statutes)

• Include bolita, dog/cockfighting, high-stakes card games, off-track betting, youth athletic events, or craps.
• For gambling, document that the suspect played a game of chance for money.

Prostitution (Chapter 796, Florida Statutes)

• Often associated with adult entertainment venues, massage parlors, escort services, and online dating.
• Street prostitutes may be human trafficking victims, especially if under 18; take them into custody and contact DCF.

Organized Crime

• Specific structure (hierarchy or paramilitary).
• Criminal and legitimate businesses.
• Provides a product/service in a market.
• Losses don't eliminate profit.
• Personnel are isolated to protect from liability.
• Associated with gambling, loan sharking, narcotics, prostitution, human trafficking, extortion, pornography, white-collar crimes, fencing, public corruption, auto theft, drive-by shootings, and money laundering.
• Law enforcement combats it through asset forfeiture, focusing on vice, intelligence gathering, interagency cooperation, and prosecution under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.