Hide your goods. Leave on your lights.
That’s the message Starkville police have for residents during the holidays.
After a recent spike in auto burglaries, the Starkville Police Department has increased its patrol and is conducting more nighttime field interviews. In the past two months, police received 32 reported auto burglaries and eight home burglaries.
The SPD said the burglaries stem from people taking advantage of opportunities such as unlocked car doors or valuables left in plain sight.
SPD Lt. Henry Stewart said residents should report suspicious people and make sure doors are locked at all times. Residents can also request house checks, where officers will check the home each day the resident is on vacation.
“Burglaries are usually a crime of opportunity,” Stewart said. “There are so many neighborhoods and apartment complexes, and when so many people leave town is when we see about a 5 percent rise in burglaries.”
The SPD routinely steps up field interviews during the holidays and got a jump start this year after the rise in auto burglaries. Stewart said there’s no way to pinpoint “target areas” for auto burglaries because of the nature of the crime, making increased field interviews more important.
“You might have four or five on one street, but it may be that the guy got lucky,” Stewart said. “With autos, mostly we have an idea of who it is. They’re usually a juvenile to the age of 21. So if we see a particular person and do a field interview on that person, we know where he lives and what he’s doing in the area.”
Increased field interviews will also spook would-be burglars once the SPD has the information. The SPD can form more detailed suspect lists, too. Stewart said recently released prison inmates are usually suspects and a great resource for information about criminal activity.
Stewart said burglars usually move in crews, at least one driver and one person who’ll be dropped off in an area to do the break-in. Rainy or foggy nights are prime times for burglaries, he added.
Arresting one crew member usually opens the possibility that he’ll divulge information on other burglaries committed or his accomplices.
“You got to have good interview technique,” Stewart said.
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