A rash of break-and-enters in North Burnaby has one resident calling on neighbours to be aware of the growing trend.
North Burnaby resident Gerardo Trasolini is worried people aren’t aware of a recent spike in break-ins in his neighbourhood and surrounding areas. According to Trasolini, in recent weeks there have been as many as six break-ins at homes in the area surrouding Pandora, Cambridge and Dundas streets.
What Trasolini finds most troubling is that most of the homes that were broken into had some type of security system – alarms, fences or cameras.
“It’s frustrating. You feel helpless, but you can’t give up. You’ve basically got to let everybody (know) that this is a problem,” he said. “For some reason, right now we seem to be the target and all you can do is make sure everybody is a little more vigilant.”
Dundas Street resident Mena D’Andrea’s home was one of the residences broken into recently.
The burglars managed to get away with a few items before D’Andrea and her family arrived home, startling the burglars and scaring them out of the house. The experience has left D’Andrea feeling disheartened, especially because the break-ins in her neighbourhood didn’t stop with hers.
“I don’t know if we can do anything because since then another three houses got broken into,” she said.
While D’Andrea, who has lived in the area for nearly 20 years, doesn’t have much hope of seeing an end to these types of crimes, Trasolini is a little more optimistic.
“We live in times where these things are regular occurrences, and the only way to protect yourself is by just being more aware of the fact that, for whatever reason, your neighbourhood seems to be one that there is a lot more crime,” he said.
Trasolini hopes his neighbours and residents in the surrounding area keep an keen eye out for anything or anyone that seems suspicious – and report it, either to police or local block watch captains.
As for the police, the recent spike in break and enters in North Burnaby hasn’t gone unnoticed at the Burnaby RCMP detachment.
According to Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve Crawford, the department has been monitoring the activity in that area for some time.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to say exactly why a neighbourhood or home becomes a target for thieves, he said.
Property crime can be the result of a number of factors, some as simple as having large hedges around your home, which give criminals the protection they need to break in without being noticed, Crawford explained.
“People typically work during the daytime, so it’s not uncommon for a house to be more vulnerable during the daytime,” he said.
Crime can also increase depending on who is living in the area or who moves into the area, Crawford added.
“Sometimes you might have a particular person who moves into the neighbourhood that’s up to no good and the crime rate starts to go up,” he said.
When rises in criminal activity are reported to police, officers work with the department’s crime analyst to map the crime trends in the area and come up with a list of prolific offenders who may be in the area.
“We have a full-time property crimes unit and they watch for these spikes,” Crawford said. “When we start seeing an increase in crimes, we start working towards who’s possibly doing this, and we start targeting.”
Most of the time, crimes, including break and enters and property thefts, are committed by people who make a living as criminals – these people are known as prolific offenders, Crawford said.
“The prolific offender is not the kid who breaks into a car on a one-time thing because they want a radar detector,” he added. “We’re talking people who, for their lives, are just into crime. That’s their occupation.”
Once the analyst has come up with a list of suspects in an area that’s experiencing a rise, officers are given the information gathered by the analyst. The information is used to track down the possible suspects and determine who may be committing the crimes.
“We identify people we believe are active and where they’re active and full-time teams go and target them,” he said. “It’s quite successful.”
As for Trasolini, he said he’ll continue to keep watch over his neighbourhood – and encourages his neighbours to do the same.
“You’ve got to keep an eye out for suspicious things going on in your neighbourhood,” he said.
Block Watch helps neighbourhoods
Everyone has a part to play in keeping neighbourhoods safe.
According to the RCMP, one important tool neighbourhoods can use to combat property crime is to join the Block Watch program run by the Burnaby RCMP in partnership with the City of Burnaby.
When blocks, which can vary in the number of homes and geographical areas, are formed, officers from the RCMP along with program facilitators come out and speak with the homeowners. They explain how the program works and offer tips to better protect the neighbourhood. In addition to the safety tips, facilitators send out crime alerts on an ongoing basis to keep everyone informed of what’s happening in their neighbourhood.
For more information on Burnaby’s Block Watch program, visit http://burnaby.bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca and click on the link for community services and programs.
