Under the provisions of section 741.28 of the Florida State Statutes,

• “Domestic violence” means any assault, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, stalking, aggravated stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, or any criminal offense resulting in physical injury or death of one family or household member by another family or household member.
• “Family or household member” means spouses, former spouses, persons related by blood or marriage, persons who are presently residing together as if a family or who have resided together in the past as if a family, and persons who are parents of a child in common regardless of whether they have been married. With the exception of persons who have a child in common, the family or household members must be currently residing or have in the past resided together in the same single dwelling unit.

Under the provisions of section 784.046 of the Florida State Statutes,

• “Dating violence” means violence between individuals who have or have had a continuing and significant relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the consideration of the following factors:

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This month, students will be returning to school in the tri-county area.  During this pandemic, your child’s safety is our number one priority. Please take a few moments to review back-to-school safety with your child.

Walking To School

If your child walks to school, make sure there are sidewalks along the way.  If you are not able to walk with your child, remember there is safety in numbers so have your child walk with siblings or other neighborhood children.  Being hit by a car is by far the greatest threat to any child walking to school.  Make sure your kids stay on the sidewalk and only cross at crosswalks.  Remember to remind your children to never, ever stop to talk to strangers on the way to and from school and, most importantly, never to get into any vehicle with a stranger.  These could potentially be life threatening situations.

Bicycle Safety

Children peddling to school on bicycles must wear bike helmets – it’s the law.  Helmets are the single most effective devices for cyclists, greatly reducing the risk of death or critical injury.  Your children should ride their bicycles on the right side of the road and obey stop signs and traffic signals. Continue reading →

The state of Florida has the second highest total number of heat related deaths of children being left unattended in a vehicle.  More than half of vehicular heatstroke cases from 1998 to 2019 were because an adult forgot about a child, according to NoHeatstroke.org.  Additionally, every year pets suffer and die when their guardians make the mistake of leaving them unattended in a parked vehicle to “run in for just a minute” at the local store.  The Lady Lake Police Department is committed to informing and educating parents and pet owners on the dangers of leaving children and pets unattended in a vehicle and taking precautions to help prevent these tragic situations.

Leaving a child or a pet in a hot car even for a short period of time can be dangerous, even if parked in a shade or with the windows cracked.  A vehicle’s glass transparency allows for the sun’s rays to heat up the inside essentially creating a vacuum of heat.  Within minutes a car that was just being cooled can experience a spike in temperature.  On a sunny day, when outside temperatures are 80 degrees outside, the inside temperature of a vehicle can rise to 99 degrees in 10 minutes and soar up to 114 degrees in 30 minutes.  At 90 degrees outside, the inside temperature of a vehicle can rise to 109 degrees in 10 minutes and soar up to 124 degrees in 30 minutes.

A child’s body temperature can rise up to five times faster than an adult’s.  When a core body temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit is reached, internal organs begin to shut down leading to death.  Continue reading →

It only takes a minute.  You look away, you may not hear the splash and your child is nowhere in sight.  Drowning – the harsh reality of losing a child in less than one minute.  Drowning is swift and silent.

According to the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA), there are approximately 4000 drowning deaths a year in the United States.  The Lady Lake Police Department is committed to educating parents and caregivers about taking precautions to help end these preventable tragedies.

Florida loses more children under age five to drowning than any other state.  Annually in Florida, enough children to fill three to four preschool classrooms drown and do not live to see their fifth birthday (Floridahealth.gov.)

Living in Central Florida, we are surrounded by water.  Although children may know how to swim, if left unsupervised, they can drown in less than two inches of water.  When participating in outdoor water activities, I encourage you to follow these safety-conscious behaviors: Continue reading →

Experience has taught us that the best thing to do before a hurricane is prepare so you can be confident during a storm that you’ve done everything you can to keep your family safe.  Even though forecasting methods and tools are improving year after year, people are still at great risk if they are not prepared.  As your Chief of Police, I want you to know that during a hurricane, you can depend on the men and women of the Lady Lake Police Department to be there to assist.  Remember, preparation is important because as the storm begins to peak, emergency vehicles will not respond once maximum sustained winds reach 45 MPH.

As a local law enforcement agency, we work with our local, county, state, and federal partners to improve our response, cooperation and communication during hurricanes.  Just as we at the police department plan for unexpected weather emergencies, there is plenty you can do to make yourselves, your families and your homes ready for hurricane season.  Don’t wait for a storm to threaten. Continue reading →

A four-way stop is any intersection with a stop sign in each direction, a flashing red light in each direction, or an inoperable traffic light.  Traffic lights that are not working should be treated as a four-way stop sign.  Four-way stops are usually, but not always, labeled as such, having a rectangular sign below the octagonal shape which reads something to the effect of, “4-Way Stop,” “Four-Way Stop,” or “All-Way Stop.”

• Each driver arriving at a four-way stop must first come to a complete stop, then one driver proceeds at a time.
• If turning, as you approach a four-way stop, use your turn signal about one hundred feet prior to reaching the stop sign. The four-way stop is one of the most crucial places for using your turn signal compared to almost any other driving situation.
• Four-way stops always operate in a clockwise direction. So, the car furthest to the right always has the right of way, and then cars take their turns in a clockwise direction.
• If multiple cars approach a four-way stop at about the same time, the driver who comes to a complete stop first proceeds first.
• If two or more cars arrive at a four-way stop simultaneously, the driver furthest to the right always proceeds first, and each next driver in the clockwise direction follows.
• If four cars arrive at a four-way stop simultaneously, drivers going straight should proceed first. If all four are turning right, they may all proceed simultaneously. These aside, there is no distinguishable way to see who should go first, so the intersection is at a standstill until one driver gets up the nerve and begins to inch forward, alerting the other drivers of his or her intentions, and proceeds through the intersection (thus starting the clockwise rotation from that driver).
• If two cars opposite each other are proceeding straight, both turning right, or one proceeding straight with the other turning right, they may go at the same time. The turn then goes to the adjacent cars at the stop, who may follow the same rule if applicable.

Follow these tips to avoid adding further miscommunication to the situation. Continue reading →

Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s and the Attorney General’s Office warn that scam artists will use the COVID-19 pandemic and the fear it has caused for many to take advantage of Florida consumers, especially the state’s vulnerable elderly.  It is important to remain vigilant during this time.  With many schools and businesses closed, there is plenty of downtime for people right now.  Social media activity will increase to pass to the time.  Predators will attempt to capitalize using various methods.  Here are some of the scams that are being reported nationwide:

• Individuals and businesses selling fake cures for COVID-19 online. Ignore online offers for vaccinations and home test kits. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there currently are no vaccines, pills, potions, lotions, lozenges or other prescription or over-the-counter products available to treat or cure Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) — online or in stores.  At this time, there also are no FDA-authorized home test kits for the Coronavirus. Visit the Food and Drug Administration website for more information.

• Don’t respond to texts and emails about checks from the government. The details are still being worked out at the time of this article. Anyone who tells you they can get you the money now is a scammer.  Visit the Federal Trade Commission at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/03/checks-government for more information.

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The Lady Lake Police Department encourages drivers to be safe, follow the rules of the road, and remain focused when operating a motor vehicle upon the roadways of the State of Florida. One of the common causes of crashes involves distracted driving. Distracted driving is anything that takes your hands off the wheel, your eyes off the road, or mind off of driving. One of the most dangerous distracted driving behavior is texting and driving, as it encompasses all three of these elements. However, texting and driving is not the only cause of distracted driving. Other common causes include eating, tending to children, grooming, or checking the GPS system. When a driver is not focused on the road, it limits their ability to perceive a hazard and delays their reaction time to avoid a crash. The Lady Lake Police Department urges drivers to stay focused on driving when operating a motor vehicle.

On multi-lane streets, roads, and highways, drivers are required to operate their motor vehicle in the right half of the roadway except when passing another vehicle traveling in the same direction. Drivers must not continue to drive a vehicle in the far left lane when being overtaken by a faster moving vehicle, unless the driver is preparing to make a left turn at an intersection. Additionally, Florida law requires you to Move Over a lane — when you can safely do so — for stopped law enforcement, emergency, sanitation, utility service vehicles and tow trucks or wreckers. Continue reading →

According to the Department of Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there have been 102,756 total hit and run crashes in the State of Florida between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018.  These hit and run crashes resulted in 21,511 injuries and 215 fatalities.  The Lady Lake Police Department has responded to 61 hit and run crashes in 2019, three involving injuries and one fatality.

In Florida, anyone driving a vehicle involved in a crash is legally required to stop at the scene of an accident and provide the following information to the other driver or anyone else involved.  You must provide this information whether the other person is a passenger, pedestrian or cyclist.

• Name
• Address
• Vehicle registration number
• Driver’s license or permit, if available

Florida’s laws also require drivers to provide their licenses to police on the scene and provide “reasonable aid” if necessary.  This may include physically carrying an injured person away from the crash, if possible, calling 911 or transporting someone to the hospital (See Florida State Statute 316.062). Continue reading →

With the Holiday Season coming to an end and the New Year beginning, it is important to remain vigilant.  Identity theft is a topic that is critical because once you become victimized, it is difficult to clear your name and credit if it becomes compromised.  Perpetrators will steal data such as social security numbers, date of birth, addresses, and bank account information.  If your information is stolen, you may receive correspondence from companies or creditors for debt you weren’t aware of.

There have been recent vehicle burglaries where wallets, pocketbooks, and backpacks have been left in both the front and back seats.  The victim’s driver’s license, debit cards, and check book were in possession of perpetrators that wrote checks and passed them using the bank’s drive through teller lane that is farthest from the window also known as “felony lane.”  The person passing the check will disguise themselves to match the appearance on the victim’s photo identification card by using wigs and sunglasses.  It may sound peculiar to some but it works because the teller is busy with the transaction and cannot truly verify the identity.  This is why it is so important not to leave anything of value in your vehicle even if it’s locked.      Continue reading →