Facts:

Since July 12^th, there have been 25 home burglaries occurring in the area known as Sector 2.  This is the area between 2^nd Avenue South to Hiawatha/Lake Street East to 42^nd Street East.   Of these 25 cases, twelve were occupied burglaries.  Occupied means that the residents were home at the time of crime. Victims were in the home sleeping or in a different area of their home.  The most common time frame for the occupied burglaries is between 10pm-8am with the most common method of gaining entry through unlocked windows or doors. 

Losses have been purses, wallets, cash, personal documentation, electronics, jewelry and medications.

There is limited suspect information.

Although no one deserves to be victimized whether their doors and windows are locked or unlocked. By taking extra precautions to secure your home and garage, burglaries can be greatly reduced.

What you can do:

• Call 911 immediately if you see or hear anything suspicious that you need a squad to check out.
• Make sure your windows and doors are locked and secured before going to bed or leaving the house. 
• Don’t leave items such as purses, wallets or other valuables near the door or window.  Some of these cases involved removing the screen on an unlocked window and reaching in the window to grab the purse or wallet or walking through an unlocked door and grabbing the purse or wallet next to the door.  It only took seconds to occur.
• Make your home look occupied.  If you are leaving your home, wave back at the house as if someone inside is watching you.  Someone outside may be watching you leave.
• If you are a victim of burglary, report it immediately by calling 911.   Inform the responding officers if you see something that may have been handled or left behind by the suspect (cigarette butt, pop can, etc.).
• When electronics or larger items are stolen, providing serial numbers of stolen items to the responding officers is important to help in the recovery of your items and in the prosecution of the suspect(s).

What you can do now:

• Take some time now and document the serial numbers of any valuables that have numbers on it.
• Take pictures of your belongings.  This would not only help in a criminal case but has helped a few residents filing insurance claims if they had a fire in their home.
• Keep this list and photos somewhere safe, like your office or safe deposit box.

• Talk to your neighbors about these incidents and ask them to be alert to suspicious activity. We need everyone’s help.   If you don’t have a block club or it has been inactive, now is the time to get it going.
• For more information about home security or block clubs, contact Crime Prevention Specialist Karen Notsch (612-673-2856 or [email protected]).