Life's Getting Tougher for Criminals in Margate
Evading police by hiding behind a bush in the dark won’t be so easy anymore now that Margate Cops have the Thug Finder (Thug FindIR). This one-of-a-kind handheld thermal imaging system not only makes it easier for police to catch criminals hiding in the dark, but it aids in locating missing persons, K-9 tracking, surveillance and other law enforcement activities where using heat-seeking Superman eyes comes in handy.
At a cost of about $7,000 each, Margate Commissioners approved the purchase of one Thug FindIR for Margate Police at a January city meeting. The expense will be funded by Margate’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund, an endowment fueled by criminal assets and cash seized by police during the commission of crimes.
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Bar Owner Seeks Help Capturing Burglars
Jesse’s Extreme Sports Bar located at 5442 West Atlantic Blvd in Margate was burglarized over the holiday season on two separate occasions. The first was on November 12 when thieves got away with about $5,000 in cash. The second occurred on Sunday December 26 when two suspects stole $3,500, said bar owner Jesse Walcutt.
Walcutt is asking for the public’s help in apprehending these burglars. Surveillance videos and pictures reveal distinguishing facial features, clothing and physical movements that may be recognizable to some.
Tips can be called in to Margate Police at 954-972-7111 - or to be considered for a cash reward call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-SPEAK UP or click www.1800speakup.org. You can also text “CSM” and your tip to 274637 or CRIMES.
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Paradise Gardens Man Commits Suicide in Driveway
After an apparent dispute with a girlfriend that led him to fire on police, 20-year-old Steven Walkup turned the gun on himself in the driveway of 6835 Northwest 12th Street in Margate.
Walkup was pronounced dead around 6 pm Friday from a gunshot wound to the head, according to reports. Nobody else was injured, including police, the girlfriend or neighbors.
Article updated January 1, 2012 4:39 pm.
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Police Action across from Margate Walmart Friday
A Broward Sheriff's helicopter circled for 30 minutes while Margate Cops converged on burglary suspects circa 2 pm Friday in a residential neighborhood across from the Margate Walmart on Atlantic Boulevard. Margate Police Sergeant, Efrain Suarez, told MargateNews.net one suspect was apprehended and the other was at large. Suarez said police may have information leading to the apprehension of the second suspect.
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Where are the Red Light Cameras in Margate?
Over the last 12 months in the city, Margate Police have issued almost 800 tickets to motorists running red lights. In 2009, within one month’s time, three people were killed in Margate in red light accidents.
Effective October 1, four red light cameras at two intersections in Margate went live. Cameras are rolling for red-light runners traveling north, south and west through the intersection of Atlantic Boulevard and State Road 7, and for motorists blowing through reds at State Road 7 and Margate Boulevard traveling south. More cameras are planned for the city.
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Dunkin Donuts Robbed at Gunpoint
Three armed robbers wearing masks stormed a Margate Dunkin Donuts on September 4th about 1:45 am. They came in through the front door, took three people to the back and left with an undisclosed amount of cash, say police. No one got shot.
Employees and customers witnessed the robbery at 1456 N. State Road 7 - and security cameras were rolling, said Margate Police Detective, Jose Fernandez, but for now video footage and other potential evidence remain suppressed while police continue to follow qualified leads.
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Margate Cops Asking for More Money
The city’s Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Union, an organization 96 Margate Cops strong, doesn’t want to settle for what City Manager, Frank Porcella has referred to as the final offer regarding the FOP’s proposed one-year labor contract with the city.
FOP negotiators insisted Thursday that the city has the money to pay Margate officers more and suggested it come from the city's reserve accounts.
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Red Light Camera up but not Operative in Margate
A lone red light camera system hangs over the intersection of State Road 7 and Atlantic Boulevard in Margate, but isn't operating. Though the city planned to go live with the cameras July 1st, Margate Police have yet to launch their 30-day public awareness campaign that includes warning signs at intersections and information on the city's website about citations and how the system works.
Margate City Attorney, Eugene Steinfeld, said the city is making changes to the red light camera contract with the camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions, but wasn’t specific to the nature of the changes.
Other intersections in Margate targeted for red-light cameras include Margate Boulevard and State Rd. 7; and Rock Island Road and Royal Palm Boulevard traveling south.
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This Year’s National Night Out a Huge Success
The 11th annual National Night Out (NNO) hosted by the Margate Police Department and the Margate Parks and Recreation Department Tuesday night didn’t just satisfy the public; it exceeded all expectations.
Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough, credited the event’s strong success to word of mouth, hard work, plenty of advance notice and marketing.
“We promote it heavily throughout the community with the media. In addition, all of our officers reach out to every business in the community and put signs up about it. Since we advertise it early, everyone has come to expect it. And this is why you see such a great turn out; there’s nothing like it in the state of Florida that we are aware of. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to reach out to the community,” Blough told MargateNews.net
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Don’t Forget Margate's National Night Out Tuesday
Celebrate one of the biggest events in the city all year long with the highly accredited Margate Police Department. Tuesday night, August 2, Margate cops, police command vehicles, military transport, DEA, FBI, Secret Service and Federal Law Enforcement personnel will converge on the Margate Sports Complex between 7 and 10 pm for National Night Out (NNO), a celebration taking place the second Tuesday of every August since 1984 in cities and towns across America.
Parking is FREE and the event last year attracted more than 8,000 residents. Margate’s NNO has won national awards for the past six years and is considered one of the largest in Broward County.
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National Night Out Puts Cops with Community
It’s probably the biggest event all year in the city. Last year, more than 8,000 people attended the Margate event and the year before just as many. National Night Out - celebrated in more than 15,000 towns and cities across the nation - brings more than 37 million people together with the police that protect them.
The Margate celebration is the biggest in Broward County and in 2009 and 2010 ranked number one in Florida among cities of its class size and 14th in the nation.
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Do you want traffic calming in your neighborhood or do you just want to slow down?
Unusual-looking black squares popped up on 66th Terrace in Margate a few weeks ago. Neighbors didn’t know what they were. The city's information hub – the Clerk’s Office - didn’t know what they were. Neither did Public Works, the department charged with maintaining city roads.
According to Margate Police, the squares were traffic surveying devices placed there based on the testimonial of a resident complaining about speeders on her street.
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Red Light Cameras Hitting Margate Streets June 1st
The installation of Red Light Cameras in Margate was unanimously approved by City Commissioners (3-0) at a special meeting earlier in the month when a tentative timeline for camera implementation was laid out. Margate Mayor, Pam Donovan was absent from the meeting and Commissioner, Joe Varsallone, attending the meeting by phone, abstained from casting a vote.
An informational meeting explaining Margate's red light camera program will be held at City Hall May 25 at 7 pm. The public is invited.
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Margate Police Chief makes dollars and “sense” case for new police facilities
Describing himself as a “fiscal conservative” Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough, drew city commissioners a financial map at a February 16th workshop where he outlined cost benefits associated with purchasing two condominium warehouses at a Banks Road complex to protect sophisticated police apparatus and to relocate Margate’s neighborhood policing division.
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City proposes purchase of commercial condominiums for neighborhood policing and tactical vehicles
To better serve residents and his department, Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough requested that city officials approve a total $740,000 purchase of two commercial condominiums located on Banks Road in Margate. One will be to house special police vehicles and other to relocate neighborhood policing from its current location at 311 S. State Road 7, Margate.
The item appeared as a resolution on the consent agenda at Wednesday's city meeting but was pulled by City Manager, Frank Porcella because Blough was not present to support his request.
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Margate Retires Police Dogs
Margate Police have utlized police dogs since 2004. These highly-trained canine officers track criminals, sniff out illegal materials, search buildings, and do other jobs human police officers can't do as well as a dog can.
“They’ve participated in excess of 100 apprehensions during their tour with us and most importantly they have saved our officers a lot of injuries by the use of these canines,” announced Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough, at the meeting.
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Tamarac Man steals $5K in Copper Wire from Margate Underground
Committing the crime over the course of four nights while riding his bicycle back and forth from the Tamarac motel where he lived, reads a Margate police report, Mark Stryker pulled roughly 150 pounds of copper wire from streetlights along the north and south sides of Margate Boulevard between State Road 7 and East River Drive.
Stryker collected the wire between 11 pm and 3 am on the mornings of October 5 to 8.
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Margate Police Department and Seminole Cops agree to “Mutual Aid”
Margate City Commissioners approved a resolution last week solidifying a cross-jurisdictional agreement between Margate police and Seminole police in pursuing and apprehending criminals outside each other's law enforcement territory.
Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough, said the Seminoles have made similar agreements with police departments in other borders cities and is needed in Margate to allow for more effective law enforcement on and off the reservation.
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Red light cameras in Margate approved for installation
More than a year after Margate city staff first introduced red light cameras to city commissioners in the form of a no bid contract, a deal was finally struck with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) of Arizona to equip three Margate intersections with red light camera technology.
According to city documents, intersections in Margate being considered for red-light camera installation include but are not limited to: Atlantic Boulevard and State Rd. 7; Margate Boulevard and State Rd. 7; Rock Island Road and Royal Palm Boulevard traveling south.
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Margate Commissioner Calls Code Violation "Ridiculous"
For most South Florida cities, Code Enforcement is at the core of beautification efforts. Without it, homeowners would be subject to an increase in blighted conditions, compounded by a drop in property values and in increase in crime, reports the American Association of Code Enforcement (AACE).
Unlike parts of the state – and the country – where residents live farther apart from one another and often on much larger land parcels, Margatonians live in densely populated neighborhoods, where tall grass, barren lawns, fences in disrepair and car ports crowded with junk stick out like sore thumbs.
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Paradise Gardens Resident crashes into Neighbor’s house at 3 a.m.
It was the wee hours of the morning when Mike said he heard the skidding wheels of a motor vehicle approaching his home. He heard a crash, then a vehicle backing up and peeling out. He looked outside and saw a white pick-up truck taking off.
Mike's neighbor around the corner had slammed his Dodge Ram into the family’s parked van, just missing the room in the house where Mike was sitting. The neighbor took off, went home and went to bed.
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Red Light Cameras still on hold in Margate
Red Light Camera legislation is stalled in Margate until the city’s “Dangerous Intersection Safety Act” is amended to include a maximum fine of $158, and the contract with the city’s Red Light Camera provider, American Traffic Solutions, is amended to comply with new state law.
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National Night Out in Margate little more than a month away
How would you like to attend a free party with 37 million other people? That’s how many turn out for National Night Out in 16,000 communities across the U.S. the first Tuesday in August every year.
2010 marks Margate’s 10th Annual National Night Out. Based on past estimates, police are expecting 5,000 plus attendees.
Click here to read more.
Post flyer on refrigerator to remember date.
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Red Light Cameras on road to approval in Margate
Shortly after Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill in May approving red light cameras for municipalities across the state, Margate officials got to work re-crafting a local red light law of their own, the first reading of which is scheduled for the city’s June 16, city commission meeting.
Click here to read more.
Tips for avoiding a citation.
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Shots Fired at Downtown Margate Restaurant
Margate Police responded to shots fired call at Ambiance Creole Restaurant, 1027 N State Road, Sunday May 16 at 3:30 a.m. Police arrived to about 200 hundred people in the parking lot, according to a Margate police report, and witnesses on the scene said many in the crowd looked like minors.
“The cops had their hands full,” one witness said.
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Canal Crooks Cuffed
Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough, announced at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting that two suspects allegedly responsible for the rash of one-mile canal burglaries in Margate had been apprehended on May 19 as a result of a surveillance operation in problem neighborhoods.
Click here to read more.
CBS4 Reports
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Canal Robberies Continue
Mike on NW 69th Avenue is a recent victim in the rash of burglaries along the one-mile canal in Margate. Burglars came through the kitchen window, said Mike, took two TVs and $300 in cash from a dresser draw, almost as if they knew where to look, he said.
Click here to read more.
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$200 Reward for Margate Home Invaders
MargateNews.net is offering a $200 reward for the arrest of the person or persons perpetuating the recent rash of residential burglaries on NW 69th Terrace in Margate.
Numerous homeowners on the 'one-mile canal' side of the street in the neighborhood behind the firehouse on Rock Island Road between Atlantic Avenue and Royal Palm Boulevard have been victimized in recent weeks in broad daylight. Thieves have entered through both front and back doors and have stolen guns, electronics and cash, say neighbors.
Neighbors in the area have raised the reward to $1,000 for the return of stolen property and the arrest of thieves.
Click here to read more.
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Pill Bust in Margate takes $50K in narcotics off Streets
Margate cops seized roughly 1,000 black market Oxycontin pills last month after surveillance led to an Ohio citizen ‘doctor shopping’ in various pain clinics around Margate. Detectives estimated the street value of seized narcotics to be in the range of $50,000.
Click here to read more.
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Disturbing text message reveals violent nature of Margate Teen
“I’m a Killer. Remember my name,” yelled the Margate 17-year-old as he rode off laughing on his skateboard moments after violently striking another Margate teen on the head with it, hospitalizing the teen, states a March 26 Margate Police Incident Report.
Click here to read more.
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Margate PD enjoys high approval rating
As part of the accreditation process through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), the Margate Police Department is required to submit an annual statistical summary of all complaints made against departmental personnel.
Summary findings indicate the public’s perception of the Margate Police Department remains positive.
Click here to read more.
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Economy Down, Shop with a Cop Up
This Saturday Margate’s finest police officers, fire rescue workers and other civic volunteers will be taking underprivileged kids shopping at WalMart. After collecting more than $9,000 in donations to purchase gift cards for toys and necessities, this year’s event promises to be the biggest and best yet.
Click here to read more.
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Police in Search of Fraud Perpetrator Roger Miller
The Margate Police Department, the Coral Springs Police Department and several other agencies in Broward County are investigating a fraud scheme involving the Rama Lama Mortgage Company and its owner, Roger Miller.
Click here to read more.
Tips on avoiding investment fraud
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You can still text and drive in Margate…for now
Although undeniably a hindrance to safe driving, cities such as Margate and Parkland are helpless in enacting ‘texting while driving’ laws until state lawmakers take affirmative action. A bill prohibiting texting while driving was submitted to the Florida Legislature this year, but was postponed indefinitely, states a memo from Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough.
Click here to read more.
Click here for shocking YouTube video of car crash caused by texting.
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Red-Light Cameras on Hold in Margate
Due to an overwhelming number of lawsuits contesting red-light camera citations in Pembroke Pines and other Florida municipalities, Margate officials have suspended approving Margate’s red-light camera RFP this week until language can be inserted to indicate that the vendor awarded the contract will help defray the cost of civil lawsuits.
Click here to read more.
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Do you Trust Police?
In a recent Sun-sentinel column, writer Mike Mayo asks “Do you trust police?” A fairly loaded question and one with no clear cut answer. Bad cops will always make headlines. Good cops go largely unnoticed, save outstanding acts of heroism or interdepartmental awards and commendations.
Reports from both the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Department of Justice indicate, for the most part, that the public holds cops in high regard. Police consistently rank among the institutions and occupations in which the public expresses the highest confidence and trust and a substantial majority of the public rates their police as doing an excellent or pretty good job of being “helpful and friendly,” states one report.
Click here to read more.
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Accreditation time for Margate Police
Every three years the Margate Police Department undergoes a voluntary evaluation process conducted by national and state accreditation agencies designed to ensure maximum public safety through the rigorous review of MPD policies, procedures, management, operations and support services.
Click here to read more.
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Show of Strength aims to curb crime in Margate
If you like cop shows, then you’ll love National Night Out (NNO) at the Banks Road Sports Complex August 4th from 7 to 10 p.m. The Margate Police Department will be showcasing K-9 Cops, police helicopters, armed personnel carriers, SWAT trucks, Mobile Command Vehicles and more, all in an effort to let criminals know area law enforcement means business.
Click here to read more.
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Does Voluntary Code Compliance Work?
In response to a Margate resident who questioned why he was being cited by police only now after having a gravel driveway since 1999, city officials collided in a difference of code enforcement opinion at a recent city commission meeting.
The resident told city officials that it could cost him up to $10,000 to install a driveway, in which case he couldn’t afford to pay his mortgage.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Police to enforce city Noise Ordinance
Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough announced at City Hall Wednesday night that the Margate Police Department (MPD) will be aggressively enforcing the city’s noise ordinance on July 4th. This, in response to a question posed by Margate Commissioner Frank Talerico as to whether fireworks are illegal in Margate.
According to the Chief, “the only thing we really have is a noise ordinance,” said Blough, adding that there is no law in Margate that expressly prohibits the possession of fireworks.
Click here to read more.
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Be a Good Neighbor, Call the Cops
The Margate Police traffic message board stating “Be a Good Neighbor and Report Suspicious People and Suspicious Activity to Margate Police” located on Rock Island Rock due north of Atlantic Boulevard was placed at that location because of signs of criminal activity in the area.
Margate police are requesting that residents in the area heighten their vigilance in reporting unusual events, people and cars in their neighborhoods and to be on the lookout for activity which appears out of the ordinary.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Police Get Grant to Fight Crime
In an effort to increase police presence in high crime areas of the city, Margate Police will be using a grant in the amount of $85,000 to expand their Special Enforcement Team (SET).
Currently, the SET consists of a sergeant and four highly-motivated officers. They operate in marked units and receive special training in street-level tactics. They work mostly at night and have been targeting the rash of residential burglaries in Margate and hot spots for criminal activity, such as the Southgate / 441 area and others along the State Road 7 corridor.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Police propose 'no bid' contract for red-light cameras
In an effort to install red-light cameras at ten intersections throughout the city, Margate Police Chief, Jerry Blough proposed a resolution to Margate City Commissioners Wednesday to sign an agreement between the City of Margate and American Traffic Solutions Inc. without first sending the contract out to bid.
Click here to read more.
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Traffic Accidents Down in Margate
It could be fewer cars on the road or fewer people passing through Margate. One thing is for sure. Traffic accidents and injuries are down in Margate.
The number of traffic accidents in Margate has dropped nearly 30% since 2003, according to MPD statistics – and the number of traffic injuries about the same. Most frequent accident locations include Southgate Blvd and State Rd 7; Royal Palm Blvd and Rock Island Rd; Winfield Blvd and N State Rd 7; and Colonial and N State Rd 7.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Undercover
Cops in Margate say they’ve got more undercover cars on the road and more undercover cops in bad neighborhoods. Violent crime and gang activity is up in Margate and cops are on the prowl.
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No Murders in Margate 'they wrote'
There hasn’t been a single murder in Margate for at least five years, according to crime statistics released by the FBI in 2007. But robbery is up in Margate, and so is arson by 200 percent.
Click here to read more.
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Armed Robbery?
It spread like wildfire through the community. Taqueria Michoacana had just been robbed at gunpoint and the alledged perp snatched the tip jar. This happened on Jan. 22, sometime in the afternoon while regulars sipped draught at Mugshots and sales girls with headsets roamed outside the insurance office next to the barbershop.
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