Arrested man in handcuffs with handcuffed hands behind back (stock photo). ▲

A Palm Beach Post analysis shows a 35 percent drop-off in Palm Beach County jail bookings from March 13 to 31, compared to 2019. One reason? Fewer drug arrests.

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WEST PALM BEACH — As the number of new cases of coronavirus grow in Palm Beach County by the hour, the number of arrests made by law-enforcement agencies dwindle.

A Palm Beach Post analysis of arrests during March 13 through March 31, the 19 days after the virus was declared a national emergency, showed a 35 percent drop in Palm Beach County jail bookings as compared to the same period last year.

Those same lower numbers have continued into April, with fewer than 40 jail bookings per day in a county of more than 1.5 million people.

Deputies transfer prisoners from the jail on Gun Club Road to the Palm Beach County Courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach for hearings Thursday, March 26, 2020. Bookings at the Palm Beach County Jail are down since President Trump declared a national emergency regarding the coronavirus. [LANNIS WATERS/palmbeachpost.com]

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Local law-enforcement agencies and college professors who study criminal justice explain that those numbers reflect more than just people staying at home to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

A mix of factors likely has contributed to the drop, they said.

"This is something that's going to be studied for decades or even centuries: 'How did the virus have effects on crime?' " Kevin Beaver, a professor at Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said Monday.

Drug arrests drop

From March 13 — the day President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus a national emergency — through March 31, Palm Beach County jail data showed a clear fall-off in the number of arrests. That drop was most clearly seen in the nearly 60 percent decrease of drug-related arrests.

During that 19-day period, authorities arrested 914 people. Of those, 109 people faced drug-related offenses. In that same period during 2019, 267 people were arrested on drug-related offenses, only 16 fewer than in 2018.

A total of 1,411 people were arrested during those 19 days in 2019, a total comparable to the 1,464 total arrests during those dates in 2018.

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Arrests for other offenses did not see similar declines. The number of DUI and battery arrests remained relatively stable over those three years, as did the number of arrests for burglary and robbery charges.

Beaver said drops in so-called "victimless crimes," such as drug use, makes sense given all that has been going on. But he said there will likely be jumps in domestic-violence and child-abuse cases because families are jammed home together.

On Wednesday, for example, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state except for essential business, one day after Palm Beach County students began their first week back to school taking online classes from home. The county schools say that remote learning will continue "until further notice."

A decrease in crimes reported to law enforcement also may be contributing to the drop in arrests said Chris Herrmann, a retired crime analyst and supervisor for New York police, and now an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

"With so few people on the streets, there are very few 'eyes' on the streets. Those eyes are the ones that usually report things, like drugs, to the police," Herrmann told The Post by email. "Fewer eyes on the street translates to fewer reported crimes to the police."

Law enforcement's outlook

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who oversees the largest law-enforcement agency in the county in addition to the two jails, has repeatedly said his deputies have not stopped arresting people in the midst of the public-health crisis.

"Is the sheriff's office going to look over some minor crimes out there? The answer to that is no," he said at a March 20 news conference. "Obey the law. I have plenty of room in the jail. Go by what the law is."

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, seen here speaking before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2019, says his officers have not changed their approach to crime or arrests since President Trump declared a national emergency regarding the coronavirus. [Screenshot from U.S. Senate hearing]

In addition to continuing "business as usual," Bradshaw said he will not be releasing inmates on lower-level, nonviolent offenses like other jails around the country have been doing to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. He said his jails have enough space to house inmates safely.

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Though drug arrests were down, several agencies said they could not comment on open investigations or whether operations have not changed since the virus.

In Delray Beach, Police Chief Javaro Sims said his officers have shifted their focus.

"Proactive work has been decreased for obvious reasons," he said Wednesday.

Some of that proactive work, which includes drug cases, he said has been reduced in an effort to limit the exposure of officers who engage in those type of operations.

He said that does not mean officers aren't responding to calls or patrolling in the field; they're just taking extra precautions for everyone's health and safety.

Delray Beach Police Chief Javaro Sims, seen here in March 2019, says his officers are taking extra precautions since President Trump declared a national emergency regarding the coronavirus but still are patrolling the streets and responding to calls. [BRUCE R. BENNETT/palmbeachpost.com]

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Beaver said Sims' actions make sense in this environment.

"Police are less likely to pursue victimless crimes. Offenders are less likely to go out and interact with potential victims. And potential victims are more likely to hunker down in their house," he said.

Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach police say they have been getting fewer calls to service in the past couple of weeks. When it comes to non-emergency calls, Palm Beach Gardens and Delray Beach police said they have seen an uptick asking about the virus.

"These callers are seeking information on possible curfews, business closures and other general information," said Maj. Paul Rogers, Palm Beach Gardens police spokesman.

Policing during health crisis

Another explanation for lower arrests rates may be an increase in notices to appear, which officers give at their discretion for minor, typically nonviolent offenses instead of arrests.

Several Palm Beach County agencies said the virus had not changed their policies when it comes to arresting people versus giving them a notice. Notice to appear records were not immediately available from the Palm Beach County clerk's office.

Sgt. Dave Lefont, spokesperson for West Palm Beach police, said officers always use discretion.

"Our mission is to keep the public safe, while not endangering our first responders. During this crisis, losing officers to quarantine could pose a greater risk to public safety, so we must evaluate every situation," he said.

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In Boca Raton, spokesman Mark Economou said overall crime is down. In Delray Beach, Sims said that wasn't the case.

Even though arrests are down, Sims' city has seen an uptick in crime as the county has dealt with closures and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus. In an interview Wednesday, he said in the past week his department saw a 3 percent increase in crime, largely driven by car burglaries.

During several news conferences over the past two weeks, Bradshaw has reiterated that his deputies are out and fully staffed in the communities across the county. Whether it's a major crimes or a violation of a quarantine order, he said the sheriff's office will be there.

"We're not turning our backs on anything that's happening out here," he said at the March 20 press briefing. "We're going to be out here enforcing the law, just like we do in any other crisis."

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