Residents want own police force

But does the upper middle class neighborhood attached to the southern end of the newly formed Village of Pinecrest really have a concern?

``I think they have a specific problem in vehicle burglaries and cars being broken into,'' Metro-Dade police Capt. Denis Shaw of the Kendall substation said. ``But it's mostly kids within their neighborhood.''

The numbers support Shaw. In 1994 there were 1,583 cars broken into and 524 cars stolen in Palmetto Bay, according to a Metro study.

Nestled roughly between 136th and 184th Streets and Biscayne Bay and U.S. 1, the 11-square-mile region, with its 23,189 residents and median household income of $64,239, had no murders in 1995.

Another study showed 9 rapes and 270 assaults in 1994, the most recent year such statistics are available.

Shaw said there's also an assault problem, but most of it can be attributed to domestic violence, which occurs everywhere and often.

Many Palmetto Bay residents believe crime will go down once they have their own police force. County response time is too slow, they say.

The study showed response times for priority calls dropped from 7.7 minutes in 1994 to 6.9 minutes in 1995. On average for all calls, it takes a patrol unit 21.8 minutes to respond.

Brian Pariser, a leading incorporation advocate, said he often hears crime concerns from his neighbors. He also realizes many other neighborhoods have many more serious problems.

``If the area is better patrolled, some minor crimes of opportunity will decrease,'' he said. ``But we are not a high crime area, even though people are disappointed in crime response times.''

Pariser believes if Palmetto Bay forms its own police force, the crime statistics will drop.

That's a misconception, Shaw said.

``They're convinced their own police department will do a better job,'' he said. ``It'll probably be worse.''

Shaw said Palmetto Bay residents believe much of their crime problem can be traced to West Perrine, a low-income, higher-crime neighborhood that borders Palmetto Bay's western edge.

Palmetto Bay police alone, Shaw said, ``won't be able to control West Perrine.''

Still, Pariser said a private police force would mean a greater presence of police vehicles.

``The more patrol cars we have, the more it acts as a preventative measure,'' he said.