• Vehicle theft is down in Florida in 2010.Cars and Parking Meters image by Towards Ithaca from Fotolia.com
  
  Non-violent crimes, such as theft and vehicle theft, have declined in Florida 6 percent, state officials reported in 2010. According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey, the drop is the result of "proactive and aggressive" policing. Statistics gathered by the FDLE indicated that vehicle thefts were down 20.9 percent and thefts dropped 5.3 percent.
  
  

Theft Definitions

• Property is defined in Florida as "anything of value." Florida lawmakers define theft as taking any property that belongs to another. Theft can be through false pretenses, fraud, deception or the physical removal of the property from a place or person without the owner's consent. Previous Florida law defined theft as "stealing, larceny, purloining, abstracting, embezzlement, misapplication, misappropriation, conversion, or obtaining money or property by false pretenses, fraud, or deception."
  
  

Theft From Elderly Person

• It is illegal in Florida to steal from any person above the age of 65. Any person convicted of stealing more than $1,000 from an elderly person will be ordered to pay restitution as part of the sentencing and to perform up to 500 hours of community service. All restitution and community service will be ordered in addition to any other sentence or fine rendered by the judge. Because of the nature of the theft, the crime is reclassified as a felony of the first degree if the defendant knew the victim was at least 65 years old and the property stolen was valued at $50,000 or more. The crime categories differ depending on the amount taken. It is a felony of the second degree if the property is valued between $10,000 and $50,000, and a third-degree felony when the property is between $300 and $10,000.
  
  

Copper Theft

• Theft of copper or "nonferrous metals" from a communications provider that causes damage to the facility or interferes with the company's ability to provide service will be a felony of the first degree.
  
  

Trade Secret Theft

• Theft from a company may include the stealing of trade secrets, embezzlement and unlawful copying. It is illegal to steal any item from a company that is used in the company's day-to-day business operations, and this may include a list of customers, lists of suppliers, inventions or devices created by the company, and lists of procedures used by the company in doing business. The law specifies that it is still considered theft if only a portion of the information was copied or if the information was returned.
  
  

Retail Theft

• Retail theft will be charged if merchandise, property, money or negotiable documents are removed from a store with the intent to deprive the merchant of the benefit or value of the item. Retail theft includes altering or removing a price tag or transferring the item from one "container to another." The merchant is given considerable latitude in prohibiting a suspected thief from leaving the vicinity of the store. If an alarm is set off through the activation of an anti-shoplifting device, the merchant is allowed by law to detain the individual long enough to ascertain if an item has been stolen. The merchant is protected from being sued for "false arrest" if there is reason to believe an item has been stolen.
  
  

Farm Theft

• Florida code designates farm theft as the stealing of any items grown or produced on a farm.
  
  

Transit Fare Evasion

• It is illegal in Florida to ride a mass transit vehicle without paying the prescribed fare for the ride. The offense is considered petty theft. A mass transit vehicle includes buses, rail cars and "fixed-guideway mover systems" operated by the state or a community government.