Capt. Ed Tamayo told members of the Lehigh Chamber this week that the Bravo District’s newly formed Selective Enforcement Team (SET) “has been instrumental in helping reduce crime in Lehigh Acres.”

The team is accredited with approximately 120 arrests in February alone, he said. These arrests helped to produce a 15 percent drop in crime in Zone 5 and a 34 percent drop in Zone 4 in burglary, auto theft and robbery related crimes from January to February. “Bravo District (Lehigh Acres) is enjoying an unprecedented decline in the number of crimes committed,” Tamayo said as a result of the SET efforts. The team targets repeat and juvenile offenders and has made significant arrests involving prowlers, sex offenders, burglars, felony dumping and illegal narcotics.

The SET concept is not new and has been tried before but it wasn’t until additional manpower was made available to the Bravo District that the current hand-picked team of eight deputies and two sergeants was put in place.

“Crime is down and arrests are up in Lehigh as a direct result of their efforts,” Tamayo said.

SET team members Sgt. Mike Rakestraw, Sgt. John Greene, Deputies Josh Quaintance, Frank Pooser, Nora Galloway, Mike Dziuba, Ken Sherman, Nick Vutsinas, George Camacho and David Brown were presented certificates of appreciation by the Chamber at their monthly luncheon on March 31.