Category: Crime Watch

On Thursday, September 25, at 11:00 PM, a grove officer received information from a passerby that several males were walking in the area of SW 17 Ave and Tiger Tail looking suspiciously into vehicles and homes. Officers were able to locate the below listed males that were in the area with backpacks attempting to conceal themselves from the police units. The males were unable to dispel the officers cause for alarm and had no legitimate reason their presence in the area at that time. Further investigation revealed that they had an extensive criminal past for Burglary and Grand Theft.

Arrested in Coconut Grove

Email Received from Commander Morales, Miami Police Department:

On Monday, September 22, 2014 at approximately 10 Am – Our units handled reported burglaries in the 3600 block of Poinciana Avenue, Palmetto Avenue, and Frantz Rd. The resident on Frantz Rd was home and witnessed the offender attempting to gain access into the home via the rear glass sliding door.

At the same time, our partners in the Coral Gables Police were working several incidents in their jurisdiction that appeared related to the ones in the south grove.

The units in Coral Gables were able to locate an offender matching the description of our burglar. The grove resident was able to positively identified the offender as our burglar that was arrested on the spot. At this time, members of our Burglary Unit are working closely to conduct the follow up investigation with the Gables Police.

Unfortunately, the offender does not appear connected to the burglary incidents in the north grove.

I will keep you update on our progress once the investigation is completed. One more criminal off our streets!

Commander Manuel A. Morales
Coconut Grove NET
Miami Police Department
South District Substation
2200 West Flagler St.
Miami, FL. 33135
Office 305-643-7170
Mobile 786-300-1479

This violent crime was very close to our neighborhood. Our police patrol discourages criminals like this from entering Utopia.

Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 02:16:11 +0000

At approximately 7 PM, we received a 911 call of a male shot at Douglas Rd and Williams Avenue. Our Grove Problem Solving Team units were in the vicinity conducting a narcotics investigation. The officers arrived on scene within minutes and contacted a witness that provided a description of the shooter and his direction of travel.

Units were able to locate and apprehend the offender. Miami Fire rescue responded, treated, and transported the victim to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The investigation required the closing of SW 37 Ave, which has since been re-opened to vehicular traffic.

It is a tragedy that this incident led to the loss of life, but the officers’ quick response led to the apprehension of a violent suspect that is no longer on our streets.

The investigation continues.

Cmdr. Manuel Morales

From: Manuel.Morales@miami-police.org
Subject: Grove Wanted Offender
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 18:44:55 The below pictured individual is connected to several car break-ins and a burglary in the North and Center Grove in the past week.

He is a white Latin male 5’6-5’9, 190-200 lbs. with a very distinctive full beard with no mustache (an Abe Lincoln), prescription glasses and was wearing dark Adidas shoes. Might be in the company of a black male wearing a beanie cap and backpack.

If you have any information in regards to his identity or whereabouts email me or call 305-579-6111. If you see him in our area call 911 immediately.

Cmdr. Manny Morales  786-300-1479

7-21-14

Today marks my one year anniversary as your Coconut Grove Police Commander. As I thought back on the events that transpired in that short time, I have vivid memories of all the great residents I have met, the new partnership that we have formed, and the many challenges that we have faced together. I took the opportunity to look back and compare our performance to previous years:

Mid-Year

So far in 2014, we are experiencing the lowest rate of incidents since 2006, which is as far as our computerized system would allow me to research. In addition to our lower crime rate, our officers have been proactively seeking and apprehending those who would affect our quality of life and violate the law, our mid-year arrest total of 714 is our highest numbers since 2010. Our current numbers are truly a representation of the hard work your grove officers put forth each and every day in conjunction with the continued assistance from our residents and crime watchers. I have been fortunate to have a great group of professionals working with me to provide professional law enforcement services to our community and to have a community teeming with motivated individuals willing to make a difference as part of our crime watch groups.

2014 has been a very an exciting year so far, we saw the Grand Opening of our Coconut Grove Police Office at 3727 Grand Avenue, a testament to the perseverance of our community members to add police presence to our neighborhood. We experienced a renewed and refreshed partnership with Ms. Etta Mills from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and our All Grove Crime Watch volunteers in our “Court Watch” program. The program was responsible for keeping criminals affecting our neighborhood longer in jail. The Coconut Grove Business Improvement District installed 10 new cameras that allow further coverage within our commercial core.

I am keenly aware that numbers offer no comfort to those few that have been affected by crime. I assure you that we will not “rest on our laurels” and allow our success to deter us from our ultimate goal of completely eliminating crime in Coconut Grove. In an effort to continue our recent success, I will continue to:

• Identify our neighborhood challenges through coordinated community/police assessments.
• Collect and analyze information about the issues affecting the Grove from reports and citizen complaints.
• Develop and implement responses with the potential for eliminating or reducing the issues by implementing crime fighting/preventing strategies.
• Evaluate the responses to determine the effectiveness and ensure desired the effect in solving our issues.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the members of our community that have assisted in making our neighborhood a better place to live and visit. I am excited to see what the future holds and how much more we can accomplish, especially now that I am not only your police commander, but your neighbor as well. As always, if you see any criminal or suspicious activity call 911 immediately.

Respectfully,

Commander Manuel A. Morales