Doral Police shares important safety tips for the holidays

DORAL, FL – On Thursday morning, Doral’s Chief of Police, Edwin Lopez, together with other police officers and staff and City of Doral elected officials, Major Christi Fraga and councilman Rafael Pineyro, offered a briefing on safety tips for the holidays.

Gathered at Miami International Mall, the briefing started with an intervention of Doral’s Mayor, Christi Fraga, who highlighted the importance of staying safe throughout the holiday season.

“It gets very busy during the season, so this is an opportunity to share with our community how you can keep your family safe throughout this holiday rush. We want to wish everyone a very safe holiday, a very healthy holiday season and our police department is here to make sure that we continue to have a zero tolerance for crime in our city,” Fraga stated.

“Leading up to the Thanksgiving holidays and into the Christmas season for us as a police department in terms of safety and security is important to remind the community that we have a zero tolerance for any type of crime in our city,” Chief of Police, Edwin Lopez, said to reinforce the message.

Lopez clarified that Doral’s police officers stand in the forefronts in a daily basis to keep the community safe, which they will continue to do during this season considering there is usually an increase in criminal activity during this time of the year.

“There are predators out there that specifically target areas of vulnerability and knowing that our community is a trusting community, many times they are victimized in many ways and it’s critically important to know that there are simple strategies to use to avoid this type of behavior,” Lopez says.

As a shared responsibility between the Doral Police and the public to keep the streets safe, the department has made sure to have a heightened level of security with more police presence on the streets than ever before, especially in all the city’s commercial areas and commercial establishments, and over 200 license plate readers to keep a visual tab of every person that enters and leaves the city premises. 

In addition, Doral Police is constantly working in partnership with Miami-Dade County, Medley, Miami Springs and Sweetwater police departments, among others, to add an extra layer of protection by means of joining forces. 

“Despite a reduction in crime of around 30% in 2024 compared with 2023, just having one incident is always concerning for us. This is why we have to make sure that when the community sees something, says something,” Lopez said.

“That increased level of communication, that trust, that sense of community policing for us requires constant feedback. Those feedback opportunities allow us to share the information, share our plan and also remind people not to hesitate to get in contact with us if they see anything suspicious.”

Essential safety tips for the holidays

According to Chief Lopez, it’s very important to plan ahead of time whenever we’re out. “Know your route and share it with your loved ones and know your closest entrance and exit of the different stores you’re visiting,” Lopez says.

He also emphasizes the importance of protecting your belongings, watching your surroundings and shopping in pairs with a friend or family member and not alone. On this matter, Lopez advises the community to purchase with a credit card instead of a debit card for security reasons.

If you’re going somewhere, avoid posting your location or photos on social media, because more often than not criminals use this information to their advantage and in detriment of shoppers. Lastly, only access Wi-Fi networks that you know are completely safe as criminals can try to hack your sensitive information through it.