December 15, 2025 • 22 mins
Ever wonder why so many vehicle burglaries happen quietly, in minutes, and often on the same street? On this episode of the Cape CopCast, we sit down with Property Crimes Unit Sergeant Jeremy Niland to map the patterns behind vehicle break-ins, stolen cars, and retail theft, and the small, repeatable steps that stop them. From late-night patrol catches to detective follow-ups, you’ll hear how camera clips, serial numbers, and neighbor tips merge into a clean timeline that recovers stolen gear and holds people accountable.
Sgt. Niland walks us through a recent case near Oasis Boulevard where coordination led to a search warrant and a pile of stolen property returned, including a kid’s softball equipment. That human side drives the work, but so does smart process: parking under your security camera, keeping valuables out of sight, locking doors, and recording serial numbers for bikes, tools, and electronics. We also dig into why many offenders are teens acting on impulse and what truly makes a car a target.
Retail theft gets a spotlight too. We break down barcode switching, booster crews, and the statewide networks that treat stolen goods like inventory. You’ll hear how loss prevention teams share intel across stores and why “it’s just a big-box loss” is a myth—those costs reappear in higher prices. Along the way, social media plays a starring role, with community IDs turning anonymous faces into names, and the occasional viral moment—like a man in Batman pajamas stopping a burglar—reminding us that neighbors still make the difference.
If you want fewer crimes on your block, this conversation gives you the playbook: simple habits, fast calls when something feels off, and a community-first mindset that makes theft a losing bet. Listen, share with a neighbor, and subscribe for more practical safety insights.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
Welcome back to another episode of the Cave
Copcast.
I'm one of your hosts, LisaGreenberg, and I'm Officer
Mercedes Simons.
SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
Together we make up the public affairs office.
And today we have a very specialguest.
We have Sergeant Nyland.
And I'll let you introduce uh alittle bit about yourself, maybe
your history in the department,that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (00:21):
Sure.
Thanks for having me again.
Welcome.
Appreciate it.
I'm Sergeant Jeremy Nyland.
I started back in uh the veryend of 2007.
I got hired.
And so I went to the academy andstuff like that.
Finished in 2008, and I didabout seven years on patrol
where I was a patrol officer.
I was field training officerback then.
And um in 2015 is when I wasluckily got selected to be in
(00:45):
our street crimes unit, whichwas a unit we used to have in
the investigative servicesbureau.
I spent a year in street crimes,and then from there I moved on
to the property crimes unit in2016.
So I was a detective for threeyears working in property crimes
cases.
And in 2019, I was lucky enoughto be promoted to sergeant.
Um from that point, uh 2019, Iwent to patrol, as a lot of new
(01:08):
sergeants, sergeants do, andbecome a patrol supervisor.
Um, so I was on patrol for aboutfour years.
Um did field training, um,supervision when it was on
patrol back in those days.
So I worked with a lot of thetrainees and the FTOs while I
was on patrol.
Um after that, I was luckyenough to come up to the
investigative services bureau uha couple years ago and take over
(01:31):
a special investigations unit,which I was in from uh 2023 then
to 2023 until a couple monthsago.
Um, and then I moved over to theproperty crimes unit, so now the
sergeant of the property crimesunit, which kind of comes full
circle because it's I'm doingnow supervising what I used to
do um back when I was a propertycrimes detective.
So um throughout my career, I'vedone other stuff too.
(01:52):
I was on a SWAT team for about11 years.
I was a CPR first aid instructorand done other things too.
Like I'm a bicycle instructor,so very quite so I've done a lot
of different stuff, been luckyand been blessed to uh work in a
lot of different parts of thedepartment.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
So now we're in property crimes, and I know you
guys are extremely busy.
SPEAKER_00 (02:14):
We are, yeah, we are very busy.
So I have a unit of fivedetectives, and property crimes
encompasses any kind of theft,any kind of burglary.
You know, we handle um stolencars, um any sort of felony
theft.
So we have you know high dollarretail theft stuff.
(02:35):
Um so anything that wouldencompass thefts, burglaries,
stolen cars, stolen property,things like that is is where our
unit gets involved in thatstuff.
SPEAKER_01 (02:45):
I think we're very lucky that we live in a city
where we don't have you knowsuper high levels of violent
crime.
One thing I think that we seeoften is like car break-ins,
vehicle burglaries, retailthefts, those types of things.
So that's why I say you guysmust be so busy.
SPEAKER_00 (03:02):
We do, unfortunately.
But on the positive note is wereally have a great community
and we have a lot ofcooperation.
We have a lot of people that arewilling to help us solve those
cases.
And we've had lots of instancesrecently where we've worked with
our um patrol officers.
Generally, a lot of stuff youguys know happen at night, but
(03:25):
for the people at home, the carbreak-ins happen in the middle
of the night, people aresleeping.
Um, but we have great patrolofficers that are getting out
there and they're catchingcatching these guys in the act,
and that's where our detectivescome in, kind of put all the
pieces together.
And we've had a bunch ofinstances recently where car
brokers have gotten caught inthe act, and and you know, we
recover people's property, um,get that back to them, and you
(03:49):
know.
SPEAKER_02 (03:50):
Yeah, we had one really good case like that last
week, right?
I think we did a release on it.
SPEAKER_00 (03:55):
Yeah, so we had a case um last week, and it was
kind of in the uh the generalarea of Oasis Boulevard, and we
had a uh gentleman that livesnearby um that we actually
connected to a couple of thoserecent burglaries, and um we're
still investigating some of it,so I'm gonna you know be limited
(04:16):
on what I say a little bit, butbut we we do use some innovative
things to um try to connectpeople to these crimes that
people might not not thinkabout.
And it's not just it's not justus, it's you know, it's it's
other parts of the investigativeservices bureau and other
detectives that help us tiethose pieces together.
And uh ended up doing a searchwarrant a house, recovering a
(04:38):
lot of stolen property um thatwe're fortunately able to get
back.
One thing I will talk about isunfortunately uh one of the
victims, um, she had somesoftball equipment stolen from
her vehicle with her name on it.
And uh we were only able torecover that and get that, you
know, get that back to her,which is which is good.
Um detective that handles thecase screw did a great job, but
(05:01):
he really took that to heartbecause he has kids too.
And you know, to have somebody'syou know, yeah, their softball
stuff stolen from their car, andit's very personal.
SPEAKER_02 (05:10):
He tried to throw it in the trash, right?
That was terrible.
SPEAKER_00 (05:13):
So that's something that you know our detectives,
you know, it hits them, youknow, yeah.
They want to help and get thatstuff back for the for those
people.
For sure.
So it was a it was a goodending.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
And for those in case you you might have seen the
release, it was the guy thatwalked into somebody's garage
midday and stole one of theirscooters, and behind it it
actually had a whole attachmentfor their other child so that
they could ride alongside theirother sibling and not feel left
out.
And this guy took the wholeattachment that you know that
(05:45):
this victim had built for himand his kids.
So that was really sad.
And we were, I think we'rereally happy to kind of get
justice for that family, findout who it was, identify him.
A lot of people are great andthey have security camera
footage, and that securitycamera footage is helpful to
tying pieces of theinvestigation together to build
a timeline.
(06:06):
And just overall, we have a lotof people uh just willing to
help us and donate that.
We can post it on social mediato help with identification, not
just in that case, but in a lotof different cases.
We have a lot of success beingable to post video footage
online and people are like, oh,hey, I know that guy, because we
don't necessarily know them, wedon't interact with them.
(06:28):
But Cape Coral is very large,but can also be very small.
So I we've had a lot of reallygood success with that.
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
It's nice when we're able to post things on social
media to help you guys out.
SPEAKER_00 (06:38):
Absolutely, and social media is is is huge.
Um, I remember back when I was adetective working um with public
affairs and getting that stuffout on social media.
And when I was a detective, Isolved a lot of cases just by
getting that information out tothe public.
And as we know, this day andage, you're almost always on
(06:58):
camera wherever you go.
Yeah, fortunately orunfortunately, how you see it,
but for people that like to makecrime, that's not good, and it's
a reason why a lot of peoplewill get caught.
And you know, usually if you godown a neighborhood and let's
say you break into a couplecars, you're usually going to be
on camera in at least one ofthem.
And you know, just one instancewhere someone's on a camera can
(07:21):
help us solve multiple cases.
SPEAKER_01 (07:23):
That's why it's crazy to me that people are
continuing to commit this kindof crime because everyone these
days, uh 90% of people havesurveillance.
So you'd think, What is the riskreally worth the reward?
What are you really gonna getout of it if you're getting
caught?
A and B, what's in someone's carthat's that valuable that makes
it worth getting caught?
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Absolutely.
I totally agree.
Unfortunately, a lot of times isthese are these are kids or
teenagers, and you know, they'renot thinking about it the way
you and I would, because youknow, we're grown adults and
we're thinking rationally.
I think a lot of times it's it'sit's the kids and maybe they're
bored, or maybe one kid has abad idea and a couple kids jump
(08:07):
on it, but um you know, for thepeople, some people do feel bad.
Oh, I don't want somebody to getin trouble.
For the most part, you know,when the kids get in trouble,
you know, in the juvenilejustice, they do try to you know
teach them right from wrong,rehabilitate them, and just make
sure they don't do it again.
SPEAKER_02 (08:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
If that makes sense.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Yeah.
So for those watching at home,what are some good tips that
people can employ to avoid beinga victim of any sort of property
crime, vehicle burglary, thatkind of thing?
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Yeah, so um I have some tips.
It's probably some some thingsthat people know, but um you
hear all the time, you know, wesay lock it or lose it, right?
That's a big thing.
So you know, it's just a button.
Lock your car.
Obviously, you know, we don'twant to leave anything valuable
in the car that we don't needto.
(09:00):
If you do and you have a trunk,that's a better spot than just
lying in your car.
Also, if you do have stuffvaluables that you don't want to
take out, keeping them out ofyou is huge.
So lots of times, you know,during the holidays, we have
people that might leave theirpurse on the passenger side,
maybe, that you can see and abad guy or somebody that has a
(09:24):
bad idea might walk by, mightsee that purse and to see your
car unlocked and just grab it.
So just some of those basicthings.
Um as far as your your home, youknow, there's things you can do
if you have cameras, right?
You can park your car rightunder your camera.
Yep.
That way, if somebody does gonear your car, they're on
(09:45):
camera.
Because we do have times whereyou know we'll have bad camera
angles.
Maybe somebody has a camerasystem, but their car was parked
over here, but the camera didn'tsee it.
Um, so that's an easy thing.
Just keeping up with yourproperty and you know, making
sure your your hedges are cutand you know there's there's a
good view of your property.
When you take care of yourproperty, you know, you're less
(10:06):
likely to have people, you know,come onto your property if that
makes sense.
Um Yeah, so those are you knowjust some of the basic things
and and the good thing about ourcity, which which I know because
I live here too, is we havegreat neighbors.
Just knowing your neighbors,looking out for your neighbors,
(10:27):
like my neighbors, you know, wehave great relationships.
He goes away, hey, I'm away.
You know, I'll go grab, I'll gograb the packages off his front
door and bring them in my house,or you know, just knowing what's
going on in your neighborhoodand knowing your neighbors and
knowing, hey, that's weird.
There's no kid that lives acrossthe street that's in two in the
morning going for the car.
Just knowing that.
(10:47):
And and you know, lots of timespeople are like scared to call
the police, like they think, oh,I don't know what's going on.
I don't want to accuse anybodyof anything.
And I'm sure you've when youwere on you know, patrol, you
would hear that from people.
Well, I didn't want to sayanything because our officers
are trained well.
SPEAKER_02 (11:05):
Yeah, we always tell people just to call.
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
They're just there to check it out.
It doesn't mean if you thinksomething's suspicious that
somebody's gonna get arrestedfor no reason or they're gonna
be in trouble.
Our officers will check it out,and if you sometimes it's
nothing, lots of times it is,and the officer will just go,
oh, hey, it's okay.
Yeah.
And but sometimes we do havepeople that see things and
unfortunately don't call, andand that could have been like
(11:28):
the break we needed to stop thatburglary or to stop that crime,
you know.
So I want to encourage peoplethat we're always there to check
it out.
We won't be mad if you call ifyou're wrong.
Yeah, you know, our officers aretrained to figure out if
something is wrong or not, andthey do figure out if it's right
or wrong, and you know, it's nota big deal.
You know, we're here to help.
SPEAKER_02 (11:45):
My favorite people in Cape Coral are like are the
retirees that always know what'sgoing on, the people that are
always out there walking theirdog.
They know who's there, whodoesn't belong.
And I and I love the people thatare quick to call because those
are the situations that we canget there as quickly as
possible, contain the situation.
If somebody is doing somethingthey're not supposed to be, then
(12:07):
we can get there and handle itas we need to, or potentially be
like, oh, it's not it's notanything that we need to to
worry about, it's not anythingif it's actually suspicious and
go from there.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
Like you're either the worst case scenario if you
call and it's nothing is thatyou quote unquote waste our
time.
And that's not a big deal at allin the grand scheme of things
when you consider that thealternative is that something
happens and you don't call andsomeone becomes a victim of some
kind of crime.
SPEAKER_00 (12:33):
And there's a lot of officers out there that they
wanna they want to be out thereand they they want to help.
And if somebody's doing wrong,they want to catch them.
Exactly.
So they're they're perfectlyfine going to those calls and
helping.
Exactly.
Don't hesitate to call us.
SPEAKER_01 (12:47):
Give us a call.
And then the other thing too islike with you kind of mentioned
this, but this is such a crimeof opportunity.
So just not providing theopportunity.
We don't see often that it'slike the smash and grabs.
Most of the times when we'relooking through the reports and
putting things out, it's peoplewho've left their cars unlocked
or left the keys in the vehicle.
And that's when we see it's notlike someone who has their keys
(13:07):
inside their house usually andgets their car stolen.
It's usually like, oh, I left mykeys in the car.
Nothing ever happens when thattype of stuff happens.
SPEAKER_00 (13:16):
All those basic stuff we talk about, not leaving
valuables out in the yard.
If you got, let's say you have a$5,000 electric bike, put it in
the garage, lock it up at night,it's just stuff like that.
But yeah, most of the time, youknow, when these vehicle burglar
occur, it is somebody going downthe street and they check the
door handles, and if your car'slocked, they move on.
And they wait to find one that'sunlocked because when they start
(13:38):
breaking stuff, we're gonna getthe police are gonna get called.
Exactly.
I know they want to be as quietas possible and they want it
want to be as easy as possiblefor them.
The easiest way is just open anunlocked door for them.
SPEAKER_02 (13:50):
We had a situation last year that we actually
posted on social media that wasvery similar to the Grinch Stole
Christmas.
They went into these people'scars and actually had stole they
had Christmas packages in thereready to go.
I think it was even ChristmasEve, maybe Christmas morning,
and it was all stolen out oftheir car.
They ended up stealing the motorvehicle, the purse inside the
(14:11):
car.
And that's I I really hope thatthat doesn't nothing like that
happens again this year, becauseI'm sure that that was probably
a nightmare for them.
It probably made Christmas a lotless enjoyable.
And unfortunately, you know, Idon't think anybody's heart grew
three sizes that day.
So it was just kind of a loss.
But if you lock your car doors,take out all the valuables, you
(14:34):
you avoid that kind ofsituation, especially during the
holiday season that we've seen,can be really unfortunate.
SPEAKER_01 (14:39):
Are those uh vehicle burglaries what keep you the
busiest?
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
Um yeah, I mean, we kind of we kind of do it all in
the uh in the theft apartment.
So yeah, it's what it's one ofthe things that keeps us busy.
It is, you know, we let let'ssay we have 10 10 cars that are
broken into it in the streetthat might get assigned to one
detective, and that that's a lotof work to track down.
(15:04):
Um, and there's ways we cantrack stuff down, right?
People have stuff um that areserial numbers on that.
We can use a database and we cantrack those serial numbers.
Lots of times people will sellthat stuff, and we're able to
track that stuff as well.
That's another another tip.
If you have high dollar thingsthat you really care about, you
know, just take down your serialnumbers, have that handy because
(15:25):
that gives us the ability totrack it down.
Whereas if we don't have it,it's really hard to prove that
let's say that TV is your TV,whereas a serial number, it's
one and only, and we can getthat back to you if we can find
it and track it down.
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
That makes sense.
I'm sure retail theft is anotherthing that you guys do a lot of
the high dollar retail theft.
Yes, yeah, people are gettingcrazy these days with that.
They're like switching barcodes,they're doing all the crazy
stuff, and it's like, you know,if all the time you spend into
looking up how to do all thisand trying to make it happen and
eventually getting caught doingit anyway, you could just put
(15:58):
into getting a real job andmaking money and not having to
steal.
Talum leases.
SPEAKER_00 (16:02):
Yeah, yeah.
I wish they would.
But yeah, same thing with whatwe talked about.
You know, there's video camerasat every retail store.
SPEAKER_01 (16:11):
Every store.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
Most of these big stores, they have dedicated loss
prevention um officers that arethat's their one job is to watch
the cameras, track down peoplestealing, and there we have
great partnerships with themwhere you know they will provide
us identities of people, notjust with at their store, but um
other fests that maybe don'tinclude or have nothing to do
(16:35):
with with you know their store,you know, because they're gonna
know a lot of those people andthey have partnerships with all
of their lost preventionofficers in other areas.
Because there are there aregroups that travel around
statewide and and do theseorganized retail fest schemes
and stuff like that, and youknow, they resell it for money,
and it's unfortunately abusiness for them.
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
I remember we did a release on one where the guy
said he didn't even know theguy, and who knows if that
part's true, but he was like,Yeah, I didn't even know the
guy, I just started working forhim because he was giving me
cash and telling me, you know,go to this store in Cape Coral
and this store in Fort Myers andthis store, you know, working up
and down from Miami and doingall of that.
So um we've definitely heard ofthose organized rings that are
(17:17):
hitting Cape Coral andcommitting that type of crime.
And I think a lot of timespeople are like, Well, why
should I care?
Like Walmart loses a couplebucks, what's the big deal?
But at the end of the day, thisimpacts you because they end up
having to raise their prices tomake up for it.
SPEAKER_00 (17:31):
That's a great point.
And people don't realize thatexactly what you said.
You're paying a couple extradollars every time you go to the
store because you have to youare covering the stores covering
their losses because peoplesteal.
So it doesn't affect youpersonally, but you are paying a
little bit extra.
And the same thing goes withyour to your car insurance,
(17:51):
right?
If your car gets stolen and yourcar gets totaled, that's a loss,
right?
And you're probably paying alittle bit more in insurance
because you're covering thoselosses because people steal.
Right.
Which is you know what I try toencourage our victims, you know.
This is why we like to press,you know, prosecute these people
so that they stop, because if noone stole, your car insurance
(18:12):
would be less, your grocerieswould be less, your TV from
Target would be less, and that'sbetter for all the good people
that are doing the right thing,you know?
SPEAKER_01 (18:21):
100%.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (18:23):
I know that you said there's a story that you need to
tell about your shoes.
SPEAKER_00 (18:27):
Yeah, so yeah, we were admiring your shoes.
You can see my shoes on the wayin there.
They seem to be very popularwhen I wear them.
So I only wear these like oncein a very great while.
So we were supposed to do thepodcast last week, and I was
sick, and we talked, we talkedand said, Hey, this ain't the
best day.
I don't want to get you guyssick.
(18:48):
Um so I had worn these that day.
Well, this that day that I worethese happened to be the day
that the um case we talkedabout, where we did a search
warrant near Oasis Boulevardwhere we recovered from stolen
property.
Um, I happened to be wearingthese shoes, and these shoes are
very uncomfortable.
And when you're walking aroundall day, you're walking around
someone's house and searchingand stuff.
(19:09):
So, yeah, my feet were werekilling me at the end of the
day.
So yeah, that's just kind of howit worked out.
I should have gone home andchanged, so it's my own fault.
SPEAKER_01 (19:18):
But listen, you try to look fancy on the pod, and
then you get stuck doing asearch warrant and you're
walking around.
So we appreciate you wearing it.
SPEAKER_02 (19:26):
Thank you for your sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00 (19:27):
And everybody was like, Why are you wearing what's
up with your sh?
I like your why are you wearingthose?
And I told them I was supposedto do the podcast today.
Usually we'll go in the closettill I have another episode.
Till your next podcast episode.
Yeah, till my next podcast.
Exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (19:39):
That's awesome.
Shout out to Mike Scarlato.
We'll drag him on next time.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_01 (19:44):
We tried to get Detective Scarlato.
He's the one person that weprobably get the most images and
video from asking us to post onour social media to help with
his cases.
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
And I would say we had the Batman.
Yeah, the Batman one that wentviral nationwide.
Everybody Saw that.
I mean, that is kind of funny.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
It was crazy the the guy who uh stopped the burglar
and his Batman pajamas.
That was awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (20:07):
I'm still playing it better.
SPEAKER_01 (20:09):
No, you can't make that up.
Like, that's just it wasperfect.
It was absolutely perfect.
Yeah, he's got a lot of goodcases.
So maybe next time we'll uhtwist his arm hard enough to get
him on here.
SPEAKER_00 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:19):
All right.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us.
We appreciate you being here.
See, we don't bite.
Wasn't too bad.
SPEAKER_00 (20:24):
That wasn't too boring.
SPEAKER_01 (20:25):
No, you were great.
You were great.
And it's important informationthat people need to know,
especially as we head into theholiday season and you know,
people are getting gifts and allthat good stuff.
Don't leave them in your car,lock your car, take everything
inside, conceal it, park yourcar under your cameras.
And I think that's that'll doit.
SPEAKER_02 (20:44):
Yeah, because these are the crimes that I feel like
most people find themselvesrunning across, just the average
person that we, you know, runinto in Cape Coral that's a
victim of these crimes.
I feel like it's probably themost common.
Yes.
So it's something that we werereally wanted to get on top of,
address.
And luckily we have a veryhardworking sergeant and a and
his team of incredibledetectives that oftentimes get
(21:06):
people their property back.
That's always the goal is toreturn their property that to
them and then prosecute whoeverwas involved in taking it.
And for sure.
That's something that we lovebeing able to do for our
community.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
If you commit a crime like this in Cape Coral,
you're gonna get caught.
SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
Yeah.
So beware.
SPEAKER_01 (21:22):
That's my message.
SPEAKER_00 (21:23):
That's the most important thing is uh getting
people their stuff back.
So if we can do that, you know,we're that's a win for us.
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us.
It's been awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02 (21:37):
We will see you next time and thank you for
listening.
Stay safe.
Welcome back to another episode of the Cave
Copcast.
I'm one of your hosts, LisaGreenberg, and I'm Officer
Mercedes Simons.
SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
Together we make up the public affairs office.
And today we have a very specialguest.
We have Sergeant Nyland.
And I'll let you introduce uh alittle bit about yourself, maybe
your history in the department,that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (00:21):
Sure.
Thanks for having me again.
Welcome.
Appreciate it.
I'm Sergeant Jeremy Nyland.
I started back in uh the veryend of 2007.
I got hired.
And so I went to the academy andstuff like that.
Finished in 2008, and I didabout seven years on patrol
where I was a patrol officer.
I was field training officerback then.
And um in 2015 is when I wasluckily got selected to be in
(00:45):
our street crimes unit, whichwas a unit we used to have in
the investigative servicesbureau.
I spent a year in street crimes,and then from there I moved on
to the property crimes unit in2016.
So I was a detective for threeyears working in property crimes
cases.
And in 2019, I was lucky enoughto be promoted to sergeant.
Um from that point, uh 2019, Iwent to patrol, as a lot of new
(01:08):
sergeants, sergeants do, andbecome a patrol supervisor.
Um, so I was on patrol for aboutfour years.
Um did field training, um,supervision when it was on
patrol back in those days.
So I worked with a lot of thetrainees and the FTOs while I
was on patrol.
Um after that, I was luckyenough to come up to the
investigative services bureau uha couple years ago and take over
(01:31):
a special investigations unit,which I was in from uh 2023 then
to 2023 until a couple monthsago.
Um, and then I moved over to theproperty crimes unit, so now the
sergeant of the property crimesunit, which kind of comes full
circle because it's I'm doingnow supervising what I used to
do um back when I was a propertycrimes detective.
So um throughout my career, I'vedone other stuff too.
(01:52):
I was on a SWAT team for about11 years.
I was a CPR first aid instructorand done other things too.
Like I'm a bicycle instructor,so very quite so I've done a lot
of different stuff, been luckyand been blessed to uh work in a
lot of different parts of thedepartment.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
So now we're in property crimes, and I know you
guys are extremely busy.
SPEAKER_00 (02:14):
We are, yeah, we are very busy.
So I have a unit of fivedetectives, and property crimes
encompasses any kind of theft,any kind of burglary.
You know, we handle um stolencars, um any sort of felony
theft.
So we have you know high dollarretail theft stuff.
(02:35):
Um so anything that wouldencompass thefts, burglaries,
stolen cars, stolen property,things like that is is where our
unit gets involved in thatstuff.
SPEAKER_01 (02:45):
I think we're very lucky that we live in a city
where we don't have you knowsuper high levels of violent
crime.
One thing I think that we seeoften is like car break-ins,
vehicle burglaries, retailthefts, those types of things.
So that's why I say you guysmust be so busy.
SPEAKER_00 (03:02):
We do, unfortunately.
But on the positive note is wereally have a great community
and we have a lot ofcooperation.
We have a lot of people that arewilling to help us solve those
cases.
And we've had lots of instancesrecently where we've worked with
our um patrol officers.
Generally, a lot of stuff youguys know happen at night, but
(03:25):
for the people at home, the carbreak-ins happen in the middle
of the night, people aresleeping.
Um, but we have great patrolofficers that are getting out
there and they're catchingcatching these guys in the act,
and that's where our detectivescome in, kind of put all the
pieces together.
And we've had a bunch ofinstances recently where car
brokers have gotten caught inthe act, and and you know, we
recover people's property, um,get that back to them, and you
(03:49):
know.
SPEAKER_02 (03:50):
Yeah, we had one really good case like that last
week, right?
I think we did a release on it.
SPEAKER_00 (03:55):
Yeah, so we had a case um last week, and it was
kind of in the uh the generalarea of Oasis Boulevard, and we
had a uh gentleman that livesnearby um that we actually
connected to a couple of thoserecent burglaries, and um we're
still investigating some of it,so I'm gonna you know be limited
(04:16):
on what I say a little bit, butbut we we do use some innovative
things to um try to connectpeople to these crimes that
people might not not thinkabout.
And it's not just it's not justus, it's you know, it's it's
other parts of the investigativeservices bureau and other
detectives that help us tiethose pieces together.
And uh ended up doing a searchwarrant a house, recovering a
(04:38):
lot of stolen property um thatwe're fortunately able to get
back.
One thing I will talk about isunfortunately uh one of the
victims, um, she had somesoftball equipment stolen from
her vehicle with her name on it.
And uh we were only able torecover that and get that, you
know, get that back to her,which is which is good.
Um detective that handles thecase screw did a great job, but
(05:01):
he really took that to heartbecause he has kids too.
And you know, to have somebody'syou know, yeah, their softball
stuff stolen from their car, andit's very personal.
SPEAKER_02 (05:10):
He tried to throw it in the trash, right?
That was terrible.
SPEAKER_00 (05:13):
So that's something that you know our detectives,
you know, it hits them, youknow, yeah.
They want to help and get thatstuff back for the for those
people.
For sure.
So it was a it was a goodending.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
And for those in case you you might have seen the
release, it was the guy thatwalked into somebody's garage
midday and stole one of theirscooters, and behind it it
actually had a whole attachmentfor their other child so that
they could ride alongside theirother sibling and not feel left
out.
And this guy took the wholeattachment that you know that
(05:45):
this victim had built for himand his kids.
So that was really sad.
And we were, I think we'rereally happy to kind of get
justice for that family, findout who it was, identify him.
A lot of people are great andthey have security camera
footage, and that securitycamera footage is helpful to
tying pieces of theinvestigation together to build
a timeline.
(06:06):
And just overall, we have a lotof people uh just willing to
help us and donate that.
We can post it on social mediato help with identification, not
just in that case, but in a lotof different cases.
We have a lot of success beingable to post video footage
online and people are like, oh,hey, I know that guy, because we
don't necessarily know them, wedon't interact with them.
(06:28):
But Cape Coral is very large,but can also be very small.
So I we've had a lot of reallygood success with that.
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
It's nice when we're able to post things on social
media to help you guys out.
SPEAKER_00 (06:38):
Absolutely, and social media is is is huge.
Um, I remember back when I was adetective working um with public
affairs and getting that stuffout on social media.
And when I was a detective, Isolved a lot of cases just by
getting that information out tothe public.
And as we know, this day andage, you're almost always on
(06:58):
camera wherever you go.
Yeah, fortunately orunfortunately, how you see it,
but for people that like to makecrime, that's not good, and it's
a reason why a lot of peoplewill get caught.
And you know, usually if you godown a neighborhood and let's
say you break into a couplecars, you're usually going to be
on camera in at least one ofthem.
And you know, just one instancewhere someone's on a camera can
(07:21):
help us solve multiple cases.
SPEAKER_01 (07:23):
That's why it's crazy to me that people are
continuing to commit this kindof crime because everyone these
days, uh 90% of people havesurveillance.
So you'd think, What is the riskreally worth the reward?
What are you really gonna getout of it if you're getting
caught?
A and B, what's in someone's carthat's that valuable that makes
it worth getting caught?
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Absolutely.
I totally agree.
Unfortunately, a lot of times isthese are these are kids or
teenagers, and you know, they'renot thinking about it the way
you and I would, because youknow, we're grown adults and
we're thinking rationally.
I think a lot of times it's it'sit's the kids and maybe they're
bored, or maybe one kid has abad idea and a couple kids jump
(08:07):
on it, but um you know, for thepeople, some people do feel bad.
Oh, I don't want somebody to getin trouble.
For the most part, you know,when the kids get in trouble,
you know, in the juvenilejustice, they do try to you know
teach them right from wrong,rehabilitate them, and just make
sure they don't do it again.
SPEAKER_02 (08:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
If that makes sense.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Yeah.
So for those watching at home,what are some good tips that
people can employ to avoid beinga victim of any sort of property
crime, vehicle burglary, thatkind of thing?
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Yeah, so um I have some tips.
It's probably some some thingsthat people know, but um you
hear all the time, you know, wesay lock it or lose it, right?
That's a big thing.
So you know, it's just a button.
Lock your car.
Obviously, you know, we don'twant to leave anything valuable
in the car that we don't needto.
(09:00):
If you do and you have a trunk,that's a better spot than just
lying in your car.
Also, if you do have stuffvaluables that you don't want to
take out, keeping them out ofyou is huge.
So lots of times, you know,during the holidays, we have
people that might leave theirpurse on the passenger side,
maybe, that you can see and abad guy or somebody that has a
(09:24):
bad idea might walk by, mightsee that purse and to see your
car unlocked and just grab it.
So just some of those basicthings.
Um as far as your your home, youknow, there's things you can do
if you have cameras, right?
You can park your car rightunder your camera.
Yep.
That way, if somebody does gonear your car, they're on
(09:45):
camera.
Because we do have times whereyou know we'll have bad camera
angles.
Maybe somebody has a camerasystem, but their car was parked
over here, but the camera didn'tsee it.
Um, so that's an easy thing.
Just keeping up with yourproperty and you know, making
sure your your hedges are cutand you know there's there's a
good view of your property.
When you take care of yourproperty, you know, you're less
(10:06):
likely to have people, you know,come onto your property if that
makes sense.
Um Yeah, so those are you knowjust some of the basic things
and and the good thing about ourcity, which which I know because
I live here too, is we havegreat neighbors.
Just knowing your neighbors,looking out for your neighbors,
(10:27):
like my neighbors, you know, wehave great relationships.
He goes away, hey, I'm away.
You know, I'll go grab, I'll gograb the packages off his front
door and bring them in my house,or you know, just knowing what's
going on in your neighborhoodand knowing your neighbors and
knowing, hey, that's weird.
There's no kid that lives acrossthe street that's in two in the
morning going for the car.
Just knowing that.
(10:47):
And and you know, lots of timespeople are like scared to call
the police, like they think, oh,I don't know what's going on.
I don't want to accuse anybodyof anything.
And I'm sure you've when youwere on you know, patrol, you
would hear that from people.
Well, I didn't want to sayanything because our officers
are trained well.
SPEAKER_02 (11:05):
Yeah, we always tell people just to call.
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
They're just there to check it out.
It doesn't mean if you thinksomething's suspicious that
somebody's gonna get arrestedfor no reason or they're gonna
be in trouble.
Our officers will check it out,and if you sometimes it's
nothing, lots of times it is,and the officer will just go,
oh, hey, it's okay.
Yeah.
And but sometimes we do havepeople that see things and
unfortunately don't call, andand that could have been like
(11:28):
the break we needed to stop thatburglary or to stop that crime,
you know.
So I want to encourage peoplethat we're always there to check
it out.
We won't be mad if you call ifyou're wrong.
Yeah, you know, our officers aretrained to figure out if
something is wrong or not, andthey do figure out if it's right
or wrong, and you know, it's nota big deal.
You know, we're here to help.
SPEAKER_02 (11:45):
My favorite people in Cape Coral are like are the
retirees that always know what'sgoing on, the people that are
always out there walking theirdog.
They know who's there, whodoesn't belong.
And I and I love the people thatare quick to call because those
are the situations that we canget there as quickly as
possible, contain the situation.
If somebody is doing somethingthey're not supposed to be, then
(12:07):
we can get there and handle itas we need to, or potentially be
like, oh, it's not it's notanything that we need to to
worry about, it's not anythingif it's actually suspicious and
go from there.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
Like you're either the worst case scenario if you
call and it's nothing is thatyou quote unquote waste our
time.
And that's not a big deal at allin the grand scheme of things
when you consider that thealternative is that something
happens and you don't call andsomeone becomes a victim of some
kind of crime.
SPEAKER_00 (12:33):
And there's a lot of officers out there that they
wanna they want to be out thereand they they want to help.
And if somebody's doing wrong,they want to catch them.
Exactly.
So they're they're perfectlyfine going to those calls and
helping.
Exactly.
Don't hesitate to call us.
SPEAKER_01 (12:47):
Give us a call.
And then the other thing too islike with you kind of mentioned
this, but this is such a crimeof opportunity.
So just not providing theopportunity.
We don't see often that it'slike the smash and grabs.
Most of the times when we'relooking through the reports and
putting things out, it's peoplewho've left their cars unlocked
or left the keys in the vehicle.
And that's when we see it's notlike someone who has their keys
(13:07):
inside their house usually andgets their car stolen.
It's usually like, oh, I left mykeys in the car.
Nothing ever happens when thattype of stuff happens.
SPEAKER_00 (13:16):
All those basic stuff we talk about, not leaving
valuables out in the yard.
If you got, let's say you have a$5,000 electric bike, put it in
the garage, lock it up at night,it's just stuff like that.
But yeah, most of the time, youknow, when these vehicle burglar
occur, it is somebody going downthe street and they check the
door handles, and if your car'slocked, they move on.
And they wait to find one that'sunlocked because when they start
(13:38):
breaking stuff, we're gonna getthe police are gonna get called.
Exactly.
I know they want to be as quietas possible and they want it
want to be as easy as possiblefor them.
The easiest way is just open anunlocked door for them.
SPEAKER_02 (13:50):
We had a situation last year that we actually
posted on social media that wasvery similar to the Grinch Stole
Christmas.
They went into these people'scars and actually had stole they
had Christmas packages in thereready to go.
I think it was even ChristmasEve, maybe Christmas morning,
and it was all stolen out oftheir car.
They ended up stealing the motorvehicle, the purse inside the
(14:11):
car.
And that's I I really hope thatthat doesn't nothing like that
happens again this year, becauseI'm sure that that was probably
a nightmare for them.
It probably made Christmas a lotless enjoyable.
And unfortunately, you know, Idon't think anybody's heart grew
three sizes that day.
So it was just kind of a loss.
But if you lock your car doors,take out all the valuables, you
(14:34):
you avoid that kind ofsituation, especially during the
holiday season that we've seen,can be really unfortunate.
SPEAKER_01 (14:39):
Are those uh vehicle burglaries what keep you the
busiest?
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
Um yeah, I mean, we kind of we kind of do it all in
the uh in the theft apartment.
So yeah, it's what it's one ofthe things that keeps us busy.
It is, you know, we let let'ssay we have 10 10 cars that are
broken into it in the streetthat might get assigned to one
detective, and that that's a lotof work to track down.
(15:04):
Um, and there's ways we cantrack stuff down, right?
People have stuff um that areserial numbers on that.
We can use a database and we cantrack those serial numbers.
Lots of times people will sellthat stuff, and we're able to
track that stuff as well.
That's another another tip.
If you have high dollar thingsthat you really care about, you
know, just take down your serialnumbers, have that handy because
(15:25):
that gives us the ability totrack it down.
Whereas if we don't have it,it's really hard to prove that
let's say that TV is your TV,whereas a serial number, it's
one and only, and we can getthat back to you if we can find
it and track it down.
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
That makes sense.
I'm sure retail theft is anotherthing that you guys do a lot of
the high dollar retail theft.
Yes, yeah, people are gettingcrazy these days with that.
They're like switching barcodes,they're doing all the crazy
stuff, and it's like, you know,if all the time you spend into
looking up how to do all thisand trying to make it happen and
eventually getting caught doingit anyway, you could just put
(15:58):
into getting a real job andmaking money and not having to
steal.
Talum leases.
SPEAKER_00 (16:02):
Yeah, yeah.
I wish they would.
But yeah, same thing with whatwe talked about.
You know, there's video camerasat every retail store.
SPEAKER_01 (16:11):
Every store.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
Most of these big stores, they have dedicated loss
prevention um officers that arethat's their one job is to watch
the cameras, track down peoplestealing, and there we have
great partnerships with themwhere you know they will provide
us identities of people, notjust with at their store, but um
other fests that maybe don'tinclude or have nothing to do
(16:35):
with with you know their store,you know, because they're gonna
know a lot of those people andthey have partnerships with all
of their lost preventionofficers in other areas.
Because there are there aregroups that travel around
statewide and and do theseorganized retail fest schemes
and stuff like that, and youknow, they resell it for money,
and it's unfortunately abusiness for them.
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
I remember we did a release on one where the guy
said he didn't even know theguy, and who knows if that
part's true, but he was like,Yeah, I didn't even know the
guy, I just started working forhim because he was giving me
cash and telling me, you know,go to this store in Cape Coral
and this store in Fort Myers andthis store, you know, working up
and down from Miami and doingall of that.
So um we've definitely heard ofthose organized rings that are
(17:17):
hitting Cape Coral andcommitting that type of crime.
And I think a lot of timespeople are like, Well, why
should I care?
Like Walmart loses a couplebucks, what's the big deal?
But at the end of the day, thisimpacts you because they end up
having to raise their prices tomake up for it.
SPEAKER_00 (17:31):
That's a great point.
And people don't realize thatexactly what you said.
You're paying a couple extradollars every time you go to the
store because you have to youare covering the stores covering
their losses because peoplesteal.
So it doesn't affect youpersonally, but you are paying a
little bit extra.
And the same thing goes withyour to your car insurance,
(17:51):
right?
If your car gets stolen and yourcar gets totaled, that's a loss,
right?
And you're probably paying alittle bit more in insurance
because you're covering thoselosses because people steal.
Right.
Which is you know what I try toencourage our victims, you know.
This is why we like to press,you know, prosecute these people
so that they stop, because if noone stole, your car insurance
(18:12):
would be less, your grocerieswould be less, your TV from
Target would be less, and that'sbetter for all the good people
that are doing the right thing,you know?
SPEAKER_01 (18:21):
100%.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (18:23):
I know that you said there's a story that you need to
tell about your shoes.
SPEAKER_00 (18:27):
Yeah, so yeah, we were admiring your shoes.
You can see my shoes on the wayin there.
They seem to be very popularwhen I wear them.
So I only wear these like oncein a very great while.
So we were supposed to do thepodcast last week, and I was
sick, and we talked, we talkedand said, Hey, this ain't the
best day.
I don't want to get you guyssick.
(18:48):
Um so I had worn these that day.
Well, this that day that I worethese happened to be the day
that the um case we talkedabout, where we did a search
warrant near Oasis Boulevardwhere we recovered from stolen
property.
Um, I happened to be wearingthese shoes, and these shoes are
very uncomfortable.
And when you're walking aroundall day, you're walking around
someone's house and searchingand stuff.
(19:09):
So, yeah, my feet were werekilling me at the end of the
day.
So yeah, that's just kind of howit worked out.
I should have gone home andchanged, so it's my own fault.
SPEAKER_01 (19:18):
But listen, you try to look fancy on the pod, and
then you get stuck doing asearch warrant and you're
walking around.
So we appreciate you wearing it.
SPEAKER_02 (19:26):
Thank you for your sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00 (19:27):
And everybody was like, Why are you wearing what's
up with your sh?
I like your why are you wearingthose?
And I told them I was supposedto do the podcast today.
Usually we'll go in the closettill I have another episode.
Till your next podcast episode.
Yeah, till my next podcast.
Exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (19:39):
That's awesome.
Shout out to Mike Scarlato.
We'll drag him on next time.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_01 (19:44):
We tried to get Detective Scarlato.
He's the one person that weprobably get the most images and
video from asking us to post onour social media to help with
his cases.
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
And I would say we had the Batman.
Yeah, the Batman one that wentviral nationwide.
Everybody Saw that.
I mean, that is kind of funny.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
It was crazy the the guy who uh stopped the burglar
and his Batman pajamas.
That was awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (20:07):
I'm still playing it better.
SPEAKER_01 (20:09):
No, you can't make that up.
Like, that's just it wasperfect.
It was absolutely perfect.
Yeah, he's got a lot of goodcases.
So maybe next time we'll uhtwist his arm hard enough to get
him on here.
SPEAKER_00 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:19):
All right.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us.
We appreciate you being here.
See, we don't bite.
Wasn't too bad.
SPEAKER_00 (20:24):
That wasn't too boring.
SPEAKER_01 (20:25):
No, you were great.
You were great.
And it's important informationthat people need to know,
especially as we head into theholiday season and you know,
people are getting gifts and allthat good stuff.
Don't leave them in your car,lock your car, take everything
inside, conceal it, park yourcar under your cameras.
And I think that's that'll doit.
SPEAKER_02 (20:44):
Yeah, because these are the crimes that I feel like
most people find themselvesrunning across, just the average
person that we, you know, runinto in Cape Coral that's a
victim of these crimes.
I feel like it's probably themost common.
Yes.
So it's something that we werereally wanted to get on top of,
address.
And luckily we have a veryhardworking sergeant and a and
his team of incredibledetectives that oftentimes get
(21:06):
people their property back.
That's always the goal is toreturn their property that to
them and then prosecute whoeverwas involved in taking it.
And for sure.
That's something that we lovebeing able to do for our
community.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
If you commit a crime like this in Cape Coral,
you're gonna get caught.
SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
Yeah.
So beware.
SPEAKER_01 (21:22):
That's my message.
SPEAKER_00 (21:23):
That's the most important thing is uh getting
people their stuff back.
So if we can do that, you know,we're that's a win for us.
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us.
It's been awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02 (21:37):
We will see you next time and thank you for
listening.
Stay safe.
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