East Stuart sees decrease in gun violence last 3 years

Sara Marino | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Crime rate in Martin County - 2017 Every year the Florida Department of Law Enforcement collects data for seven areas of crime. According to their statistics, crime in Martin County rose 14.6 percent overall from 2016 to 2017. GINNY BEAGAN/TCPALM

EAST STUART — Chris Ruediger waves down a teenage boy on a Wednesday afternoon near Southeast Church Street and asks him why he isn't in school.

The boy reluctantly tells the Stuart police officer he's been suspended for two days for cursing. Ruediger sends the boy in the direction of the 10th Street Center, where students can go to keep up with their school work when they are suspended or expelled.

The interaction is nothing unusual for Ruediger, who, for the past year has been the lone community resource officer for the East Stuart area. He patrols 2 miles bounded by Palm Beach Road, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Dixie Highway.

Previously: East Stuart shootings spur extra patrols

"I get to know folks, I talk to folks," he said. "I have a presence there so the community has an officer they're comfortable speaking to and interacting with."

Just three years ago, he was one of four police officers assigned to a daily foot patrol task force there. Gun violence was at an all-time high.

But in the years since, gunfire has markedly decreased, Stuart Police Chief Joseph Tumminelli said. He said it's largely because of Ruediger and other officers keeping a closer eye on the area.

Gunfire ups and downs

Although there's usually an average of one or two shootings annually in East Stuart, former Police Chief David Dyess, who is now Stuart's city manager, has said the number of gunfire incidents didn't start to increase dramatically until 2014.

Police officers responded to 14 incidents related to gunfire in 2014, Dyess said.

The Stuart Police Department recorded 22 incidents of gunfire in 2015, the most ever in one year, police officials said. Five people were injured.

Police don't know why gunfire increased so much in those two years, said Brian Bossio, spokesman for the Police Department.

But two years later, gunfire incidents were down to 17, and now, in the first 10 months of 2018, there have been six. No one has died as a result of gunfire since 2014.

Previously: Two women shot in East Stuart in August

The decrease came about, Tumminelli said, because the Police Department focused on three areas: establishing a task force to intensely patrol the area and make arrests; cracking down on illegal gun possession; and helping out with community programs in the neighborhood and, in doing so, being more visible.

The task force

In July 2015, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder pitched the idea of a joint task force between the two law enforcement agencies, Dyess said.

The frequent gunfire in East Stuart was part of the motivation behind creating the "crime suppression team," Snyder said at the time. The five-member unit of local law enforcement officers targeted areas across the county plagued with a variety of problems for several months. They worked 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. five days a week.

More: Crime Suppression Team doing its job

The Stuart Police Department set up its own task force comprising four officers, who patrolled the area on rotating shifts starting at the end of 2015.

They were "looking for specific gang members and gang-related activity," Tumminelli said.

Police investigated people they suspected to be shooters, looking for anything else they may be doing illegally.

Officers partnered with the Martin County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to serve search warrants. ATF agents raided some rental houses and made arrests.

Previously: Shots heard in East Stuart, police say

Community cooperation was low.

"In some cases, people are reluctant to give information because they could be in fear of retaliation from these gang members," Ruediger said.

People would not talk to the police even if they were eyewitnesses, because it's viewed as breaking the community's trust, he said.

"But when you have shootings, it's kind of like the gloves are off and everybody is just over it and they'll start sharing some information," Ruediger said.

Dyess said because of the uptick in gun violence in 2014 and 2015, the agency knew it also had to get involved with organizations in the community for help, and pinpoint people who were causing violence and watch them closely.

More: Police, residents working together to cease gunfire in East Stuart

"We got involved with the pastors and different community leaders and really made it a community effort between the Police Department and the community," he said. "What that, in turn, did, was allow relatives to apply pressure to the people committing the gun violence and doing the things that they shouldn't be doing."

By having more face-to-face interactions between law enforcement and the community, a wall that was metaphorically built broke down, Dyess said.

"If (officers) knew there was a rivalry between two factions (officers) would kind of interject into that," he said. "Because they built such good bonds with the community and people would tell them what's going on, (officers could) intervene before it rose to the level of gun violence."

Today, gun violence has decreased enough that the task force disbanded in January , but if the area experiences a spike in gun violence, it will be reinstated, Tumminelli said.

All it takes is one incident to create a ripple effect, Ruediger said.

"(Gunfire) is random, unpredictable," Ruediger said. "When shootings happen, we want something done, the community wants something done and that's the largest issue."

Guns, arrests

Tumminelli said the agency has cracked down on illegal gun possession in the community through an increase in traffic stops and officers watching out for suspicious activity.

During its tenure, the task force made several gun-related arrests and took 160 guns off the street, Tumminelli said.

In 2017 alone, officers confiscated 15 guns and made over 60 arrests related to guns, including sale and delivery of narcotics and possession of narcotics.

More: Gifford man dead in shooting Wednesday on 38th Avenue

Dyess said officers have continued to keep watch over people who have been involved with gun violence in the past.

"We started to pick out the actual person who's causing the most problems within the community and tried to focus on that individual," he said. "There was some search warrants, and a couple of guys got federal prison time as a result of those search warrants, so there was enforcement action that occurred. But we were focusing on (finding) the primary person agitating the community."

He said building a positive relationship between the Police Department and the community was the first step in effectively decreasing gun violence.

The second step, he said, was the agency understanding who the "primary aggressors" were and keeping a close eye on them.

Community programs

Thelma Washington, the executive director of the Gertrude Walden Day Care Center on Southeast Lake Street said the Police Department works with her on monthly projects.

Officers have been involved in the center's back-to-school events, chaperoning field trips, and distributing holiday meals, among other activities.

"I have my left hand, and then Stuart Police Department is my right hand," Washington said.

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Ruediger said he interacts in the public school system with students at Spectrum Junior Senior High School, Stuart Middle School and J.D. Parker Elementary School.

"Obviously it's not just East Stuart kids that go to those schools, but within those schools there are a lot of people from the community," he said.

"Over the summer I went to hang out with the kids at the (Stuart 10th Street Center) a bit and talked to them and played games with them," he said.

Officers also work with churches in the area, Tumminelli said.

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Jerry Gore Sr., the pastor at Pentecostal Church of God in East Stuart, said in the past the Police Department has worked with the church on several events, including a back-to-school program.

Gore said the school event had the biggest impact on the community because it provided children with a positive interaction with law enforcement.

"(Kids) see the presence, and they see police handing out backpacks and that has the biggest impact," he said. "They are awesome."

Gore said when officers ride around on Segways, they get a "closer view and communicate closer with citizens in the area.

"That made it a very personal relationship; that's how I got to learn about a lot of officers, they would step down and shake your hand."

Tumminelli said working with churches, the day care center and having an overall larger presence in the community is what has helped reduce gun violence.

"More community involvement helped out," he said. "So we added the initiative of more community programs throughout the neighborhood."

More: 2018 East Stuart Back to School Bash

Making a difference

Ruediger is out on his Segway five days a week, every week in East Stuart.

He stops on most streets to ask familiar faces if they're staying out of trouble, how their health is and how their relatives are.

"It's just about having a presence there," he said. "The more time you spend in the community, the community becomes more comfortable with you.

"Sometimes you can just listen," he said. "But sometimes you have to enforce the law."

More: 2018 East Stuart Unity in Community

Gun violence

Incidents of gunfire in East Stuart. Not all gunfire resulted in people being hit, injured or killed.

2018: 6 *

2017: 13

2016: 7

2015: 22

2014: 14

Since 2014, no one has died as a result of gun fire in East Stuart. Five people have been shot since 2015, including two in 2018.

*January through Oct. 31

Source: Stuart Police Department