At last week’s NBHC meeting, South Precinct Captain Les Liggins came by and talked a bit about burglaries in the neighborhood. He said that it has been “one of the most interesting last couple of months I’ve seen in my career,” a period of time that “started off with, I felt, a significant burglary increase in the precinct.” He cited one primary reason: “As we enter the summer months when schools are out… kids are getting out and looking for things to do… like raid a few houses.”

“Thanks to timely phone calls, we’ve been able to make significant headway,” performing an arrest during a burglary in progress, and then getting them to roll over on their associates, leading to the recovery of 300 laptop computers and other electronics.

He also said that the police have been “fortunate lately… to get significant hits on fingerprint evidence… placing people inside the houses…” and “also fortunate… our numbers are increasing… almost at 100 (officers, up from 70)”. They are trying to get their staffing up throughout the department to match workload and “get most officers out on the days and times when most activity occurs.”

Unfortunately, the impact of that well-timed arrest, the leads coming from it, and the accumulation of fingerprint evidence has not fully quelled the rash of break-ins and burglaries nearby.

Kevin on the mailing list wrote about a break-in yesterday, 7/13, at his home near 21st & McClellan. Alma responded with a note about the theft of garden tools and such the same day, 7/13, from her neighbor’s new shed near 15th & Nevada. Suzanne wrote to us about her home being burglarized last Wednesday, 7/8, at 18th & Bayview.

Keep your eyes open and don’t hesitate to call 911 if you see something suspicious.

Update: a number of additional burglary calls today on the scanner, reported by BHNW: 18th & Lucile, 3700 block of Holly Park Drive, 5100 block of 20th Ave S, and the “6500 block” of 19th Ave S (I suspect that’s a typo).

Update: Corrected some dates. It’s not Wednesday yet.