Message from the President

Bob Peterson, PGICA President Bob Peterson, President (rpeterson@surfree.com)

July, 2010

Here it is mid-summer already. The big news, of course, is the oil spill and its overall impact on the Gulf of Mexico. This is a catastrophic event that may affect the Gulf States for years to come. In a discussion I had with Ray Briggs of the Punta Gorda Fire Department, he said there is less than a 10% chance the oil slick will impact us here in Punta Gorda. The computer models show the oil slick getting into the “loop” and moving to the west of the Dry Tortugas, picking up into the gulfstream, going south and east of the Keys, up and off the east coast of Florida, towards the Carolinas and then east out into the Atlantic. Unfortunately, as we well know a hurricane could change this projection dramatically.

A fourth boat was stolen from PGI June 4 at 1:30 a.m. The 49 foot Sea Ray was taken from the dock behind a house on Casey Key. Fortunately, the boat was located and thieves apprehended. Nevertheless, there remains high concern about the number of boat thefts and car burglaries in PGI neighborhoods. On June 16, the PGI Civic Association, in cooperation with the Punta Gorda Police Department, held a Crime Prevention Seminar at the Association building.

Sgt. Jim Kirdy, head of PGPD’s Criminal Investigation Unit, presented some very valuable information about the methods used by the group of people involved in the thefts of four boats from PGI. 

According to Sgt. Kirdy, an organized crime ring—comprised of people from Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic—is targeting south Florida to steal boats to be used in human and drug trafficking or to be sold on the black market. This ring is looking for twin screw vessels with lengths primarily in the 38 to 51 foot range, having the speed and fuel capacity to travel 350-400 miles on a single tank of gas at speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour. (For those of you who own sailboats and trawlers, you should not have to worry about your vessels.)

They tend to target locations where the house is vacant with a vacant lot on either side of the house. Boats are usually taken between the hours of 12-3 a.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings when typically there are minimum law enforcement patrols—especially US Coast Guard.

The crime ring often checks out a vessel 2-3 days prior to actually stealing it. Two or three males will typically troll through the canals in PGI identifying potential boats to steal. They may even appear to be fishing from the vacant lot or even the actual property where the boat is docked. They may sit under a tree in the yard of the vacant house or the lot next door to see what kind of law enforcement traffic occurs. In some cases, the night they steal the boat, one or more people may sit on the lanai of the property from which they are going to steal the boat watching for law enforcement.

A day or two prior to stealing the boat, these people will board the vessel to check to see if it has radar and GPS, if there is gas in the tanks and the props are on the boat.

The night they steal the boat, some people will come to the boat from the canals. Others on land will remove all lines and board the vessel, have it towed by the boat in the canal to a site nearby, hot wire the ignitions, and drive away. By the time the boat is noticed missing in the morning, they have gone through Boca Pass, are in international waters, and heading south—often to Cuba or Mexico.

What can you do to help prevent or deter this from happening to your boat?

It is important that all residents in PGI be vigilant. Be on the lookout for people who look and act suspicious, are riding around in the canals, are parked in vans or trucks in vacant lots, or who may appear to be fishing in the canals from land (remember Punta Gorda has a City ordinance that you cannot fish the canals from land without written permission from the landowner). DO NOT hesitate to call the non-emergency Punta Gorda Police Department line—639.4111. In fact, while you are reading this, STOP, pick up your cell phone NOW and program this number into your phone. Chief Butch Arenal has said several times he would rather receive ten false alarms than have one person see something that looks suspicious and not report it.

Do not try to confront these people by yourself. These are very dangerous and can be heavily armed.

Following Sgt Kirdy’s presentation, Bill Cromer demonstrated a means to help deter people from coming onto your dock at night. A circular fluorescent light (CFL) bulb costs about $3, lasts over a year, and uses about 8 cents of electricity a day—less than $30 per year. You leave the bulb on 24/7 and it provides sufficient illumination to light your dock and boat. (Sgt. Jim Kirdy did say lighting the area of the boat at night is a deterrent. However, for the 49 foot Sea Ray that was stolen earlier this month, the people who took the boat removed the light bulb from the lamp pole a day or two before they stole the boat. If you see that your light is not working, or if you see your neighbor’s light is not working, you might want to check out to see if the bulb has been removed or the lamp pole has been disabled.)

Matt Ezra showed us a light that has a heat activated motion sensor. If someone comes onto your dock, the light comes on which can act as a deterrent.

I went to the Radio Shack store in Punta Gorda (in the Publix shopping are on Airport Road) and found a Chamberlain CWA 2000 Wireless Motion Alert system. It is battery operated. You install the motion sensor on your boat and if it detects motion (someone coming onto your boat), it transmits a signal to a receiver you can have in your house. The sensor detects motion up to thirty feet away and will transmit a signal to a receiver up tone half mile away. This tells you someone is on your boat. If you have your boat docked behind your house, it might be a very good system to use. Cost for the system is $89.99 plus the cost of the 8 AA batteries.

Sgt. Jim Kirdy said if you are going to be away from your boat for an extended period of time, you might want to consider removing the props from your vessel.

Dennis Clark, a member of the Punta Gorda Police Volunteers in Policing, gave me the following security tips:

For your boat:

  1. Lock up your boat.
  2. Don’t’ leave valuables in plain sight and secure quick-mounted electronics.
  3. Secure your dinghy and outboard motors.
  4. Don’t leave keys on the boat—including no hidden keys.
  5. Keep dock lights on the boat.
  6. Secure your boat to the dock (turn the lift off at the breaker panel or cable lock the boat to the piling). (If your breaker panel is outside, you might want to have an electrician move the breaker inside your garage).
  7. Turn off the battery master switch.
  8. Turn off the fuel valve at the tank.
  9. Install or hide a GPS tracking device (like Zoombak, LoJack, or other marine tracking devices) on your boat.

For your house:

  1. Lock up your house.
    1. Front door when not being used
    2. Keep your garage doors closed when not using the garage
    3. Keep your lanai doors locked at night
  2. Don’t leave spare keys around the outside your house.
  3. Have motion lights for the front and back of your house.

For your car or truck:

  1. Lock up your car or truck when not occupied. (Chief Arenal indicated that all burglaries of cars in Punta Gorda in the past year were from cars and trucks which were NOT locked.
  2. Don’t leave valuables in the vehicle or in plain sight.
  3. Don’t leave spare keys hidden on the exterior.
  4. Install an alarm system (if your vehicle is not already equipped).
  5. Install/hide a GPS tracking device (like Zoombak, LoJack, or other marine tracking devices) on your vehicle.

Additionally, Mary Frances Adair, a PGICA Board member, is trying to expand on the City’s Neighborhood Watch program.  She is looking for volunteers to be “block captains” and help organize areas within PGI so neighbors can be looking out for neighbors.  Anyone interested should e-mail her at adairmwa@embarqmail.com.

Naturally, there is no guarantee if you take all these precautions your boat will not be stolen. However, you can definitely reduce the possibility of theft if you follow the suggestions provided.

The new sound system has been designed and ordered and should be installed in the next few weeks.  The funds for this sound system were provided by the Isles Gals and Guys.  We also have purchased a new portable sound system for use in the Pavilion, so if your club is interested in having an event there and you would like a sound system, see Beth Magnin to reserve the system.

Construction of the new bridge on Aqui Esta has been completed and the road has been opened.  There is still some construction taking place and there are lane closures during the weekdays.

Our Mayor told me recently that permitting for the new 7-Eleven on Aqui Esta and Bal Harbor is nearing completion. Construction should begin in July.

We would like to welcome our recently-formed card club…the Hand and Foot Card Game. It meets the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:30 p.m. This is the third new club started this year.

Reminder, there will be no Commentator published in August. Enjoy your summer wherever you are.