Crime Prevention FAQ

Frequently Asked Crime Prevention Questions

Top 10 Frequently Asked Crime Prevention Questions

Burglary:  (AKA breaking and entering) occurs when a criminal steals an item from inside your home, such as your TV that is stolen when you are at work. Burglary also occurs when items are stolen from a garage or shed. There is no interaction between the criminal and the homeowner.

Robbery:  occurs when there is an interaction between the criminal and homeowner during a crime. Typically the criminal threatens the homeowner with a weapon as part of the interaction.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has available to citizens of Palm Beach County a link on the ww.pbso.org web page to search crime statistics in the unincorporated areas of Palm Beach County.  The link is called “Crimemapping.com”. Citizens can type in their address, select the types of crime they want to track, choose a date range and search. The crime statistics are based on the past 30 days only.

911 is an emergency line which should only be used in life-threatening or urgent situations that require the immediate response of law enforcement, medical, or fire personnel.  Seeing a crime in progress is an event when you would call 911.For all non-emergency calls please dial 561-688-3400

As a Citizen of Palm Beach County, you are the eyes and ears of our community, and you have a voice that can speak up and help to solve and prevent crime. Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County provides a method for you to safely and anonymously provide tips and report criminal activity, and pays a reward for information that leads to an arrest, property recovered and or narcotics confiscated.

Call 9-1-1 in an emergency or to report crime currently in progress.

Call Crime Stoppers with information about unsolved crimes, fugitive criminals, drug dealers, or to report suspicious activity such as stolen property, human trafficking, illegal weapons, terrorism, or other crimes.

Any concerned citizen of unincorporated Palm Beach County can start a Neighborhood Watch program in their community. That concerned citizen will be the liaison between that community and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and responsible for organizing and scheduling watch meetings. The Sheriff’s Office crime prevention unit will be available to assist you with this process. For more information, contact the PBSO Threat Assessment Unit at 561-688-4853.

Make an inventory of all property, including the make, model, serial number, date of purchase and value. This can be done by completing an inventory form or making a video inventory of your items.

Marking the property, with an engraver or black-light pen, or any product on the market that will assist with identifying and recovering your stolen items. When marking your items with an engraver it is recommended that you use your driver license number or Identification number and not you social security number or telephone number.

File a police report.

Flag your credit reports with a Fraud Alert on your credit report.

Order copies of your credit reports from the three national reporting agencies.

Create an on-line Identity Theft Report through the (FTC) Federal Trade Commission.

Lock your doors! Securing your property is the best way to protect your home.

Maintain your property. Keep your lawn and shrubbery trimmed. Remove unused objects, such as bikes, and secure them inside.

Install motion detection lighting on the outside of your home. Criminals do not want to be seen.

Invest in a good quality camera system that is able to be viewed off sight.

Install an alarm system.

Lock your doors! Securing your property is the best way to protect your business.

Maintain your property. Remove trash or unused objects from outside the business.

Install motion detection lighting on the outside of your business.  Criminals do not want to be seen.

Invest in a good quality camera system that is able to be viewed off sight.

Install an alarm system.

Graffiti is defines as the personal act of marking or etching on someone’s property without their effective consent.

Go to the Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers site and report the Graffiti.