LTC 058-2005 Attorney General Storefront Project
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 0')8-2005
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From:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez Q . . ~
City Manager . ..¡.r 0
ATTORNEY GEN RAL STOREFRONT PROJECT
Date: March 1, 2005
To:
Subject:
This Letter to the City Commission is to provide an update on the State of Florida Attorney
General's Storefront Project. This program is designed to address the growing concern
that crimes impacting our elderly population frequently go unreported. The reasons for this
vary from lack of trust and fear to the embarrassment of admitting that they were a victim.
Offering police services from a storefront location is believed to be a venue that our elderly
residents would be more likely to feel comfortable using.
The Storefront Project was launched in the City of Miami Beach in July 2004. The original
location was in the Crime Prevention Office on the first floor of the Police Station. This
location did not provide the easy access for the elderly that the program needs for
success. To rectify this situation, two additional locations with easier public access were
proposed. The new locations are in the Police Department's North End Sub-Station
(NESS) and at the new RDA office in the South Pointe area.
Both offices are scheduled to be open on March 2, 2005. They will be staffed by
volunteers who will be trained to be a reference point for those who are victims of crimes
as well as provide referral service for questions dealing with civil cases, Social Security,
Medicaid, and landlord/tenant complaints. The operational aspects of this project will be
supervised through the Crime Prevention Office.
The South Pointe RDA Office will be open on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 :00 a.m.
to 1 :OOp.m., and the NESS Office will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 :00
a.m. to 1 :00 p.m. The program currently has two trained volunteers and additional
volunteers are being actively recruited. This information will be disseminated to the news
media by the Police Department's Public Information Officer.
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