ABBEVILLE, La. — The Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s office rolled out an online ‘Crime Mapping’ program this week. The program is designed to allow residents to see where certain crimes have occurred and when they happened. The map uses different colored icons to display the type of crimes.
According to the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's office, the hope is to better inform residents and business owners about criminal activity.
After reviewing the data on the parish website, KATC mapped out where Vermilion Parish was noticing the most crime activity and reached out to business owners in the area to gauge their thoughts on this new initiative.
“We had a good number of shoplifters and because of that, I put camera systems all over,” said T.J. Food Market Owner Francis Cao. After experiencing multiple incidents of shoplifting, Cao decided to take matters into his own hands and install numerous cameras. “I tell my customers, I am watching you and even when I go home, I am still watching you,” Cao said.
Twenty-seven years in the business, Cao says his relationship with his customer is the trick to curbing crime in his store. “I always give people a second chance. I talk to them (customers) first,” he said.
While this may seem like a push in the right direction, Cao says his presence in the community is enough to steer away the bad guys. “For me, since I know the people here. It doesn’t really matter to me. Crime can happen anywhere,” Cao said.
You can access the ‘Crime Mapping’ website below.
