Many burglaries occur through open and unlocked doors

Thanks to Eric Fisk and Janet Stillman of the Wallingford Neighborhood Office, our new North Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator, Terrie Johnston, has provided us with her first monthly report which we’re happy to share with you here:

Dear Block Watch Captains and Contacts:

I  just completed my first month as your North Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator.  I have introduced myself to the University, Broadview, Wedgwood, Pinehurst, Wallingford neighborhoods and have meetings scheduled in Blue Ridge; Ballard; Crown Hill; Sunset Hills and a walk with FAWN is also booked.

In reviewing the residential burglary reports for the past couple of weeks, I noted some trends worth mentioning.

• The majority of May’s burglaries occurred through open and unlocked windows/doors. This means that these burglaries may have been prevented if the residents had used their available locks.  We encourage you to keep your windows/doors closed and locked whenever you are away from home, even if you are only dashing out for a quick errand.  Limit how far your windows will open by using snug-fitting dowels in the tracks of sliders; sash pins in double-hung windows and track latches.  We advise pinning the windows open no more than 4 inches.
• A few entries were made through the “dog door”.  In many of the forced-entry burglaries, the thief used the victim’s tools to pry open the back door, or threw decorative bricks or rocks from the homeowner’s yard through the window.

Burglars love secluded back yards since they allow the thief more time to gain entry. Most burglaries occur during the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Electronics, jewelry, cash were the main items taken. Car keys, check books and rare collectable sneakers were also reported stolen.  Most of the victims could not provide the detectives with either photographs of the valuables, nor serial numbers of the electronics. We encourage you to make an Inventory list of your valuables and keep that in a secure location, such as a safety deposit box or safe. Doing so may assist the police in the case of recovering stolen property.

Ready for some good news?  Yesterday afternoon a watchful neighbor called 9-1-1 to report a suspicious circumstance.  The caller reported seeing two unknown people coming out of her neighbor’s backyard. She was able to give a great description to the call taker of the 2 white males and even provided a partial license plate number to the car in which they left. Patrol officers arrived within minutes and upon searching the house verified it had been burglarized. Other officers recognized the wanted suspect from the description and drove to the thief’s nearby home. The two suspects were there and arrested. Burglary Detectives from the North Precinct responded to the scene for evidence collection and to further process the scene. All of this happened because a watchful neighbor trusted her gut feelings that something was wrong and called 9-1-1! Great good work done by all involved.

National Night Out will be on Tuesday, August 2^nd this year. I will let you know shortly when the on-line application page of our website is open for your registration. Give me a call to schedule a Block Watch meeting or for a free home security assessment.  Thanks for sharing this information with your contact lists.