Stay Safe & Vigilant During Summer Vacation

This summer as Volusia County residents are feeling more confident about traveling and planning vacations, it’s a good time to remind everyone about crime prevention and home/vehicle security.

During our warm season, criminals are especially looking for opportunities to steal.
Our Volusia sheriff’s deputies and detectives are seeing an increase in nighttime car break-ins. It may be kids who are out of school and bored, or professional thieves grab your valuables.

Regardless, we can’t say it often enough: When you exit your vehicle, remove all temptation from inside—take your purse, wallet, electronics, backpack, shopping bags, firearms, and your vehicle keys. Lock your vehicle every time. If possible, park your vehicle in a well-lit area or garage.
The VSO offers a House Watch program in which volunteers with our Sheriff’s Citizen Observer Program (COP) check on your house multiple times during your absence.

This is a free service and we offer two types of watches. We’ll do a drive-by watch in which volunteers observe the house from the street, looking for anything out of the ordinary such as broken windows or anything suspicious. Or, we’ll do a physical walk around in which the observer walks around the house looking for signs of trouble.

To sign up for House Watch program, you must complete a request form. You’ll need to provide a phone number where you can be reached while you’re away and you should provide a house key to someone locally that you trust incase problems arise.
Return the form to the Sheriff’s Office a week before the house watch begins. For more info or to download the form, go to: www.volusiasheriff.org/_/documents/COP-HouseWatch-Application-103098-002-REV-09-16_website.pdf

For much more information, go to our website at www.volusiasheriff.org

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody provides great information, tips, and other resources not only for hurricane preparation but also for scam/fraud awareness, Covid-19 updates, military/veteran assistance, opioid education, and much more to help you have a safe summer. Here’s the link: www.myfloridalegal.com

I’d like to remind you to watch out for your friends and neighbors as well as family members. If someone you see or hear from regularly suddenly doesn’t show, or you haven’t seen them for days or weeks, don’t wait: check on them. If something is amiss, call our non-emergency number 386.248.1777 and request a well-being check. We’re happy to help.

Have a great summer and stay safe,
Sheriff Mike Chitwood