Juveniles accounted for 15 percent of arrests in Wellington in 2023, up from 10 percent in 2020, a services plan filed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at a Tuesday, Sept. 3 meeting of the Wellington Village Council shows.
“The village, as in previous years, continues to enjoy low, but persistent, juvenile crime issues, property crimes and traffic-related problems,” the PBSO’s plan for 2025 noted.
The PBSO has provided law enforcement services to Wellington under contract since the village’s incorporation in 1996. Currently, the PBSO and the village are in the fourth year of a five-year deal.
As part of its consent agenda at the Sept. 3 meeting, the council approved the PBSO District 8 budget and contract for the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
As expected per the five-year deal, the PBSO proposed a 4 percent increase. The contract total for 2025 is $11,297,752, an increase of approximately $434,529 over the current fiscal year.
In accordance with Wellington’s Law Enforcement Services Agreement (LESA), the PBSO is required to file an annual services plan outlining accomplishments, challenges and future goals.
That 15 percent juvenile percentage remained the same from 2022, even though the overall number of arrests fell from 476 to 350, records show. It stood at 11 percent in 2021.
The PBSO intends to renew a program aimed specifically at juvenile offenders in District 8, which covers Wellington.
“To address all juvenile-related crime issues, District 8 will continue to utilize the Juvenile Arrest and Monitoring (JAM) deputy to 1) educate the district’s deputies in keeping them informed about juveniles on probation, and 2) to ensure those juveniles are frequently monitored,” the report explained. “Any juveniles found violating their probation are arrested and returned to the Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC). Additionally, we continue to work with the State Attorney’s Office to address particularly troublesome juvenile cases.”
Vehicle burglaries (178 in 2023) helped drive an overall 28 percent increase in property crimes in Wellington. The report does not break those down by age of the offender, but they have involved juveniles in the past, often with unlocked vehicles.
In addition, the Mall at Wellington Green continues to attract juveniles, sometimes from surrounding communities, officials said.
For those living within Wellington, the PBSO tries to bring support programs to bear.
“In addition to our enforcement strategies, the district’s Community Policing Unit proactively looks to identify families that have juvenile-related problems and work with the village to support these families with programs,” the report continued.
After juveniles and property crimes, the PSBO identifies lowering vehicle crashes as a priority. The crash rate crept up to 2.059 per 100 residents in 2023, up from 1.977 the year before.
The game plan there involves at least 10,000 vehicle stops in Wellington in the upcoming fiscal year. Among other initiatives, the strategy is to “target enforcement of seatbelts and texting while driving,” according to the report.
