The foreclosure crisis engulfing neighborhoods across the Tampa Bay area is a sign to most people of a distressed economy. But to the law enforcement officers who patrol these neighborhoods, the empty homes represent something else entirely: a haven for crime. Scattered in the central neighborhoods of St. Petersburg and Tampa, or in the zombie subdivisions that dot the exurbs of Hillsborough and Pasco counties, abandoned homes provide a place for thieves to stash their stolen goods and for addicts to get high, authorities say.
Meanwhile, squatters and burglars are stripping homes bare, stoking fears of a downward spiral that could lead to more foreclosures, and even more crime.
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