It’s that time of the year again. Heat, rain, storms, vacations, travel — oh and the historical fact that crime has a tendency to increase, especially vehicle burglaries.

I don’t always want to blame these types of increases on bored, mischievous youths, but sometimes it cannot be denied.

Just recently nine students made LaPlace Elementary the target of criminal vandalism. They broke computers and sprayed graffiti on the walls of the school.

Some of these juveniles are straight-A students. After they were quickly and positively identified on video by members of the staff of the school, they were brought in for questioning in the presence of their parent or legal guardian.

Good police work and video footage put this case to rest quickly.

That brings us to that one familiar word … curfew. Even though this vandalism did not occur after the 10 p.m. curfew.

Members of St. John Sheriff’s Office have written up several curfew violations in the month of June. During the summer, we have placed School Resource Officers in marked and unmarked units to catch curfew violators.

They would be the best officers to easily identify underage violators since they are with the kids in the school system during the school year.

You will soon notice a new marketing trend by SJSO on billboards throughout the parish.

We encourage citizens to lock their cars and secure belongings such as purses, wallets, guns and an extra set of car keys in the glove compartment. Locking your cars and hiding your valuables when you are not using them helps you not become a victim of criminal activity.

And speaking of helping us to help you, there are some safety tips for summer time traveling that you may have heard me mention in the past.

Make sure the newspapers do not build up on your driveway and that the garbage can does not stay on the curb when you are on vacation. Whenever possible make sure the delivery of mail, newspapers and packages get delayed while you are out of town.

If you must have a package delivered, try sending it to your work or office address.  And, if you are flying out of town, do NOT put your home address and home telephone number on your luggage tags!

Always use a cell phone number as a point of contact if your luggage is lost.
I want to give a special shout out to the 22 citizens who graduated from our Citizens Academy on June 29, 2017.

This was a nine-week course where citizens learned all about the behind-the-scenes work of the law enforcement community. Information for the 2018 academy will be available soon on our website.
Finally, thank you all for the prayers for Sergeant Staty Lewis who was injured when a vehicle struck him on Interstate 10. He was treated and released from the hospital the same day. Get well soon Sgt. Lewis!

We would really like citizens to download our app for traffic or weather updates, road closures or important information in the community (www.stjohnsheriff.org).

Mike Tregre is sheriff of St. John the Baptist Parish. Reach him at sheriff@stjohnsheriff.org.