VBPD making solid effort to solve crime

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - At a news conference Wednesday morning, Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera addressed recent robberies in the resort city.

He reinforced that the department is doing all it can to vigilantly solve the city's crimes. "We have worked really hard to reduce the number of robberies and our clearance rate," said Cervera.

The city has experienced a rise in robberies since the beginning of the year. Chief Cervera broke down the statistics and the number of arrests.

He said in January the city had 56 robberies, which he admitted was a high number for Virginia Beach. To date, Chief Cervera said the department has arrested 20 suspects in those cases, 14 adults and six juveniles. He said he just received word that detectives are about to arrest three more.

The department is moving resources around to different places of the city where Chief Cervera said he thinks the crimes will occur. That strategy appeared to work Tuesday night, officers arrested a woman accused of robbing the 7-Eleven in the 3900 block of Holland Road just minutes after the crime.

Arlyssia Allen-Carter, said she noticed the police presence in her community. "It was cops flying down the street, around the street. You had helicopters out. And that's when I heard a lady had robbed the 7-11."

Chief Cervera said K-9 police were in the area when the call from the store went out. Officers quickly tracked the suspect down in a nearby neighborhood.

"I'd like our citizens to know we're on top of it and we're doing whatever we can to keep these numbers down," said Cervera. He said the K-9 Unit found the suspect within seven minutes of being on scene.

Allen-Carter said she appreciates that Tuesday night's arrest happened so quickly. "That took seven minutes so that's great. That's impressive, it really is out here," she said.

She added though that every shopping trip brings worry. "Because, the simple fact you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know if you're in the middle of a robbery. Cause people walk in there and they're looking at you and you're looking at them - but you don't know what to expect."

In addressing crime prevention, Cervera said citizens need to be aware of their surroundings; be alert to suspicious behavior.

Dave Henderson who co-owns Two Brothers Self Service Dog Wash on Newtown Road in Virginia Beach said he chooses to protect himself from potential criminals. The shopping center in the 400 block of Newtown Road has been targeted recently. Police arrested a burglary suspect at the location Tuesday night.

"My brother and I who own the business, and our employees are armed. So, it's one of the precautions we decided to take."

Police say they will tackle the decision to arm oneself in an upcoming seminar for members of the business community. Business leaders will be asked to weigh all aspects of exercising their second amendment rights.

MPO Leta Krieger explained residents and business owners need to consider, "That moment of truth are they going to think, there's my target. O.k. What's around it? What's behind it? And could it be taken away from them and used against them."

She warns there could be liabilities associated with firing a shot, especially if someone gets hurt. Henderson said he responsibly considered his options. "I've been through all the conceal carry classes and all the training. We shoot regularly. We just decided it was one of the best defenses."

Businesses concerned with the spike in recent robberies will have the chance to attend a robbery awareness and prevention seminar , Tuesday, February 15. The seminar will be hosted by the Virginia Beach Police Department's Crime Prevention and Robbery Units and will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Meyera Oberndorf Library, located at 4100 Virginia Beach Boulevard. For those who can't attend that particular seminar, a second seminar will be held at the library from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Those who plan to attend can call 385-1325.

Chief Cervera also addressed two unsolved high profile cases, a deadly shooting at a convenience store on Lynnhaven Pkwy. and the homicide of Police Officer Victor Decker. He said detectives are diligently working on every lead.

On the web --

Violent and Property Crime Statistics in VB 2010
Robbery Awareness and Prevention Seminar