From the Voice in the Choice Community Meeting - Topic: Stories of former Lake Worth Police Dept.

Please Note: The stories here are not meant to be a criticism of the former LWPD. 

*From a resident on South Lakeside:

When my daughter was 4 years old,  (she is 16 now),  someone tried to take her, pulling her over our fence in the backyard. After calling the police it took over 45 minutes for the police to even show up. They never caught the person.

 

I live near the area where the child was kidnapped, raped and stuffed in a dumpster. She had been taken near Federal Hwy. The LWPD did not have the manpower or the resources to mount a search, they had to call in Officers from Boca Raton to help. That is how they found her, otherwise they may not have found her in time. 

 

I was not originally for going with the PBSO. But now seeing how they have made such an impact and a difference I would never, ever even think of going back.

 

*A resident since 1994 from the south end on Pine Street:

It would take me 2 hours to tell all of my LW police stories.

Waking up in the morning to find dead bodies lying in the alleyway and found on the cemetery grounds, this happened numerous times.

An execution style murder in the cemetery.

14 different gangs hanging out in front of my home night after night.  One of which were members of the Top 6.

18 rounds of gun fire popped off in front of my home.

Mad car races and gang activity on my street.

My 12 year old son found a gun near our back yard. 

My ten year old son has grown up hearing gun shots every night and started calling the police on his own.

My neighbors and I feared retaliation.

Since the PBSO came people actually jog and walk in my neighborhood and walk their dogs. My car was broken into regularly, but since the PBSO came it has not happended once.

To me the difference since the PBSO came to Lake Worth is like night and day!

 

* Three residents all from North R Street:

A neighbor of theirs was selling prescription drugs out of her home. People coming and going at all hours. This went on for years. The police would be called and by the time they arrived everyone would be gone. The police told us to call them if we saw anything. We did over and over again and again.

Since the Sheriff came to Lake Worth that neighbor has gone.

There were numerous "drug houses" in our area, but since the PBSO, that activity has stopped in our neighborhood.

My son also lives in the neighborhood and he had been broken into many times. Since PBSO came he has not.

 

* From a resident on Dartmouth Drive:

I wanted to be in this group so that I could say that a very close friend of mine was in the LWPD. He has told me that while on duty with the LWPD his life was threatened every single night and that he was always in fear of his life. But since becoming a part of the PBSO he feels safer and feels more confident. The moral of the officers serving Lake Worth now that they are with the PBSO is higher and better than it ever was before.  

I just wanted to get this message across.

 

*A Resident:

He had been burglarized and had been an eye witness to the crime. The officers on duty did not take fingerprints even though he asked them to. The officer on duty did not have the right equipment nor the knowledge of how to do so. No one else was called in. Because of lack of evidence the guy got off.

 

* Resident in the downtown area.

When we had our own police dept. many of them were in the reserve  in the military and called to serve in Iraq. The remaining officers had to pick up double shifts etc and were paid overtime. has anyone taken that cost into consideration? Also at that time two of the officers had been injured and were off duty so there were only 2-3 officers on duty on any given night for the entire city.

 

* Resident from Tropical Ridge Neighborhood.

The training period for LW police is only about 2 weeks before they are sent out to duty. Before the PBSO the officers did not get the appropriate training.

 

*Resident from Detroit Street area.

The boundary issue has always affected my home. We live on the boundary of Lake Worth and the county. If we called LWPD they would tell us they can't come out as its not our area. 

Since the PBSO we don't have that problem. It is their area!

 

* A Resident since 1973:

Our son was held up at gunpoint in his apartment in the downtown area (on Lucerne Ave) .

The LWPD had been called while the hold up was still going on. The armed man actually walked our son down to the ATM machine and had him withdraw cash from the ATM. But by the time they arrived the armed man had fled. He was not caught.

 

Points that were unanimous from the group:

*Response time from the days of the LWPD to now with the PBSO is beyond incredible. The PBSO's response time is great!

*Less crime in my neighborhood.

*Better service than before.

*Moral of the deputies is better with the PBSO than it was with the LWPD

*Tendency to catch the criminal and keep them behind bars.

*Less vagrants, panhandlers and homeless.

*We cannot go back to what we had before.