During Tuesday’s city council meeting, Fort Walton Beach Police Chief Robert Bage discussed the recent string shootings that have occurred.
According to Bage, the FWBPD does not believe these shootings are random, but rather disputes between groups of individuals that have turned more violent. (Last week’s shooting at Coasters was the exception.)
- “We think a lot of these issues tie in between what goes on in Sylvania Heights, in the Crestview area and some of the areas that surround the city of Fort Walton Beach,” he said.
The incident on the Cinco Bayou bridge, which happened a few months ago, saw a shooting occur involving multiple vehicles. Although no details are being released yet, police are confident that they’ve identified possible subjects in the exchange.
- Additionally, three separate shootings occurred all within the same day.
- One off Lovejoy Road
One off Racetrack Road (12 minutes later) - One off Hollywood Blvd
“A lot of the shootings boil down to some type of underlining incident,” said Bage. “There’s probably some type of mitigation that needs to go on amongst not just with the police department or in public safety, but with different public advocacy groups to really talk about alternatives to violence, especially in the younger community.”
In addition to calling on advocacy groups to assist the younger community, another major help has been the investment into the new license plate readers.
The license plate readers have helped the police department when working with cases. Bage said that some of the leads in the most recent cases have been generated by the license plate readers.
Other strategies the FWBPD has been implementing include:
- High visibility patrols, and pro-active policing.
- Strengthening the bond between police and the community.
- Acting as a general deterrent by keeping consistent patrols.
Bage says that one of the biggest tools the FWBPD has at their disposal is the help of the community. He stressed the importance of citizen communication with them to help solve these crimes.
“We really need people to come forward if something is going on in their neighborhood,” he said. “Sometimes it’s that smallest tip when someone speaks up that will solve the biggest crime for us. If you see something say something.”
