News

By Mary Hladky

Fed up with car thefts in their neighborhoods and what they claim is insufficient police action to stop them, Golden Triangle and Golden Harbour residents have mounted a campaign to press the Boca Raton Police Department to ramp up enforcement.

The residents turned out in force at the Dec. 11 and 12 council meetings to make their case that more needs to be done to stop the thefts in their neighborhoods along the Intracoastal Waterway north of Palmetto Park Road.

“We are sitting ducks,” said Golden Triangle resident Joe Majhess. “In the last week, $1 million of cars were stolen out of our neighborhood. We told (police) it would escalate. It has.”

Residents said the thieves aren’t simply looking for unlocked cars in driveways. They now are entering garages, which prompts fears that their homes could be invaded. They also think that the thieves are armed, because a stolen Bentley and Rolls-Royce had guns in them, and the Bentley also had $10,000 inside.

“It is a scary time to be a resident in our neighborhood,” said one woman. “It is not a good quality of life when you are at home and scared.”

The residents want the Police Department to discard a long-standing policy that officers cannot chase suspected criminals unless they committed a forcible felony, or crimes such as murder, manslaughter, sexual battery, carjacking and robbery. Car theft is not a forcible felony.

Officers can make arrests if they catch thieves in the act and they do not flee.

“With a no-chase policy, there is no way to stop them,” said Mike Majhess, Joe’s uncle.

The policy results in few arrests, which emboldens the thieves, they said.

“I don’t have a great deal of optimism about there being a great deal of change unless this issue is pressed,” Joe Majhess said when contacted after the meeting. “The ultimate responsibility falls on the police chief to enforce the laws and make us feel safe. Unless crime is effectively deterred, it is only a matter of time until someone gets hurt.”

However, Police Department statistics do not support the residents’ contention that more cars are being stolen and that few arrests are made.

As of mid-December, 213 cars had been stolen citywide. Totals of 218 were stolen in 2022, 168 in 2021 and 220 in 2020.

At the end of 2023, 20 arrests had been made, and 33 cases remained under investigation. Thirty-eight arrests were made in 2022.

Police Chief Michele Miuccio denied ignoring the problem at the Dec. 11 meeting, saying that more officers are patrolling the neighborhoods at night and conducting surveillance in unmarked vehicles.

While declining to discuss investigative techniques “so the bad guys know what we are doing,” she said, “we are throwing as much assets at it as we can.”

Thefts aren’t an issue just for Boca Raton, she said, noting that car thieves are operating throughout southern Palm Beach County.

To safeguard themselves, she urged residents not to keep cars unlocked with keys or key fobs inside. According to department statistics as of mid-December, 57% of the stolen cars were unlocked and 58% had keys or fobs in the car.

Many police departments in Florida and in other states have no-pursuit policies similar to Boca Raton’s for crimes other than forcible felonies. High-speed chases have drawn scrutiny across the country because they often result in death and injury.

The Tampa Bay Times reported in 2022 that a 2015 USA Today analysis showed more than 5,000 people had been killed in police car chases between 1979 and 2013. Most were not involved in the chases and were killed in their own cars by a fleeing driver, and tens of thousands more were injured, the analysis showed.

From 2016 to 2020, an additional 1,903 people were killed in crashes involving police pursuits, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The U.S. Department of Justice in 1990 called pursuits “the most dangerous of all ordinary police activities” and urged police departments to adopt policies listing when officers can and cannot pursue someone, the Times report said.

A Florida Supreme Court ruling in 1992 also prompted police departments to revise their pursuit policies after the court held that cities and their police officers involved in pursuits resulting in death or injuries are liable for damages.

Boca Raton City Council members voiced support for more police patrols in the neighborhoods and an enhanced public education program so people know they need to keep their cars locked.

George Brown, who was elevated to city manager on Dec. 31, said police will meet with residents to share information.

But as of now, the Police Department is not considering changing its no-pursuit policy, police Public Information Manager Mark Economou wrote in an email after the meeting.