It was a busy summer for Burnaby Mounties.
Crimes, including break-and-enters and car thefts, throughout the city all increased over the summer months, according to the Burnaby RCMP’s monthly report for July and August.
At the Sept. 11 community policing committee meeting, Chief Supt. Dave Critchley told members the spike in these types of street-level crimes was likely due to people leaving their home or car windows and doors unlocked or open during the warm weather.
Residential break-and-enters were up this summer compared to 2013, according to the monthly report Critchley presented.
Throughout July and August, 170 residential break-and-enters were reported to the Burnaby RCMP while only 124 were reported during the same time last year. The spike was most noticeable in Burnaby’s southeast district, which reported 31 more residential break-and-enters in July and August 2014 than in 2013.
“While (break-and-enters) were down overall and are expected to continue to drop, many homes were targeted with break-and-enter during the warm weather,” Critchley wrote.
The monthly report also indicated that car thefts had increased in three of the four districts in Burnaby in July and across all districts in August compared to 2013. The southeast district, which covers the area southeast of Highway 1 to the Fraser River, was the only district to report a decrease in the month of July – it reported an increase of nine the following month.
Critchley said it is a mystery as to why thefts as well as thefts from autos, which spiked across the city in both July and August, are increasing after nearly a decade of decreases. While he couldn’t provide an explanation, Critchley said it’s a problem in many cities throughout the Lower Mainland, not just Burnaby.
“In recent weeks, we are starting to see a drop in auto theft and theft from auto,” Critchley wrote in the monthly report. “This may be due, in part, to the arrest of a number of prolific offenders believed to be responsible for the spike.”
These offenders were targeted by Burnaby RCMP investigators, arrested and are now facing several charges, the report added.
So far, this year nearly 580 cars have been reported stolen in the city. There have been more than 1,840 thefts from cars, according to the Burnaby RCMP report.
