Burglaries are raising concerns

Sheriff’s Office sees an increase in crime

Local authorities are calling on the community to help halt a sudden spike in Del Norte County burglaries.

There has been an average of about four burglaries a day in the county during recent months, likely committed by several groups of thieves, Sheriff Dean Wilson said.

“We believe that there are several groups; they may have loose associations with each other,” said Wilson, adding there is no information to suggest an organized gang.

Felons or criminals who have spent a considerable amount of time within the court system are suspected to be behind these burglaries, Wilson said.

“Part of their problem is they’re known drug users,” said Wilson. “Most of this is tied to drugs.”

The thieves seem to be burglarizing homes in search of guns, jewelry, electronics or any items they can easily peddle, authorities said.

“These folks know what they’re looking for,” said sheriff’s Commander Tim Athey. “They go in very quickly and out very quickly.”

“It’s very suspicious that they seem to know the time frames when people are gone,” said Wilson. “We can tell the folks that are committing these burglaries are at least fairly aware of the habits of the victims.”

In a recent burglary, the victims left their house and returned about 45 minutes later to find it ransacked, Wilson said.

The burglars are thorough in searching common hiding places, dumping drawers and flipping mattresses to find anything worth stealing, Wilson said.

Thefts aren’t exclusive to residences; vehicles are being looted and stolen as well, Wilson said.

The burglaries have occurred throughout the county, but neighborhoods in the Bertsch Tract, on Parkway Drive, Blackwell Lane, Railroad Avenue and in Fort Dick have had heavier criminal activity, Wilson said.

“They are forcing entry, whether through windows or doors,” said Wilson.

Arrests have been made, but it hasn’t been enough to slow the burglaries, Wilson said.

Two people were recently arrested in Eureka who were found to be in possession of a stolen vehicle and suspected of being behind several burglaries in a Blackwell neighborhood, Wilson said.

Fingerprints obtained at the scenes of these crimes are helping investigations because authorities can tie more burglaries to the same individuals, Wilson said, adding that a lot of the suspects are already in a criminal DNA databank.

“When you finally catch them you’re going to clean up some of the other known burglaries,” said Wilson. “We’ve had two burglaries recently, they weren’t solved, but we have been able to attach the burglary to a known suspect.”

While county residents have fallen victim to a rash of burglaries, property thefts within the city limits are lower than last year.

There had been 73 burglaries (and 18 related arrests) in Crescent City through October compared to 101 for all of 2010. Overall county burglary statistics for this year were not available Friday.

“We’re certainly not experiencing the more aggressive type of burglaries that the county is,” said Police Chief Doug Plack. “Individuals will go to an area where they feel relatively sure they will get away with it.”

Burglaries in the city are more often crimes of opportunity  and also include attacks on businesses, Plack said.

“Our average call response time is approximately two minutes and I think that’s one of the benefits of living in a location that’s densely populated,” said Plack.

City statistics show that burglaries have fluctuated — sometimes greatly — over the past decade.

In 2008, there were 55 burglaries, with 91 the following year. In 2004, Crescent City experienced its highest burglary rate since 2001 with 134.

Last year in the county there were 305 burglaries, an increase of 32 percent from 2009 when there were 230 (in connection with those, 51 arrests were made). In 2002, there were 354 burglaries, the highest since 2000, and in 2007 the county experienced the lowest recent amount with 172.

With limited county resources and a larger area to cover, it’s especially important for residents to take proactive measures to strengthen safeguards against burglaries and have a higher level of awareness within their neighborhoods, authorities said.

“The big thing is for people to be watchful, we’ve had very good information coming to us,” said Wilson, adding it has been especially helpful in the past week.

“If you see people in your neighborhood walking on foot or in parked vehicles watching houses, we encourage (residents) to take photographs,” said Wilson.

Residents in a neighborhood need to band together and get to know each other, Plack said.

“Get to know your neighbors and watch out for each other,” said Plack.

Locals should also mark all of their valuable possessions, so in the case of a burglary it is easier to identify who the items belong to and return them, authorities said.

Photograph jewelry, write down serial and model numbers for guns and label farm equipment with driver license numbers, Wilson said.

People should change daily routines and be watchful of anyone watching their house or others, Plack said.

“Sometimes it might be prudent for you to leave your house and double back,” said Plack.

Most importantly, residents should make sure to pay attention to the traffic, pedestrians and activity in their neighborhood and if someone doesn’t seem as if he or she belongs there, write down a description of the vehicle or take a photograph and forward the information to law enforcement, authorities said.

They are also encouraging people to form Neighborhood Watch groups.

“We have had a real strong interest from a lot of folks for Neighborhood Watch groups, if people are interested the Sheriff’s Office, CCPD and Yurok Tribal Police have programs that they would go out and assist in establishing these groups,” said Wilson.

Authorities will be in attendance Monday at a "Community Based Crime Prevention Town Hall Meeting" where there will be an opportunity for residents to learn more about measures that can be taken to prevent crimes and personal rights citizens have if confronted in their homes.

“This initial one is to get us all on board and tell us what we need to be looking for or how to be aware,” said Billie Kaye Gavin-Tygart, a coordinator of the meeting.

It will also be a chance to learn about what is happening in the county, she said.