Historically, violent offenders were localized and remained within certain geographic boundaries. This is no longer true as violent offenders from one city are now being connected to violent offenses in other cities, counties, and even states. The increase in criminal activity has mandated that local, state and federal criminal justice agencies develop a well-organized, proactive approach to combat the problem.

The concept of GAME OVER is a multi-pronged approach that includes intelligence collection, investigative techniques and use of technology. Each local area has identified repeat, suspected perpetrators of violent offenses that remain free to commit criminal activity. The GAME OVER Task

Force uses resources from various participating agencies to identify, monitor, track and subsequently apprehend these violent offenders during the actual commission of criminal acts. During the first six months of 2008, Brevard County realized a reduction in violent crime while crime continued to increase in surrounding areas. The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office believes this success is at least partly due to the efforts of this task force.

The team works in concert with the State Attorney’s Office to prosecute the various individuals for all criminal offenses, to include violent crimes, probation violations, weapons charges, narcotics violations and other associated crimes. The involvement of the prosecutive teams as task force members ensures that each perpetrator identified as a GAME OVER Task Force arrest is given the full attention of the State Attorney’s Office and the Criminal Court Judges.

By employing recently developed technology and strong police tactics, the task force members are able to apprehend habitual violent offenders and gang members who are attempting to commit additional violent acts and remove them from the community. By maintaining vigilance over the course of prosecution and sentencing phases of the various offenders, the team’s efforts will help to eradicate violence from repeat offenders and have a positive effect on the crime rate and the quality of life for the citizens of Brevard County.

According to Sheriff Jack Parker, "It is a very small percentage of the criminals creating the majority of the violent crime. If we focus our efforts on them and ensure they are sentenced to long prison sentences, we can do more than simply take a bite out of crime."