The most prevalent crime in our area is property crime.  Residential and vehicle burglaries are two types of crime that frequently occur in our area.  I’m sure everyone knows someone who has been victimized by a burglar.

Most burglaries are committed by drug addicts desperate to support their habit. The goods they steal are sold quickly, sometimes within an hour of the burglary! The crook gets about 10 cents a dollar most of the time. Because of these facts, it is necessary for a burglar to break into several homes every day to support his drug habit.

Once the burglar has succeeded in entering a home, he does not want to stay there long.  Most of the burglars try to grab small items that will fetch them money easily and quickly.  The typical things a burglar targets are jewelry, small sized electronics, credit cards, check books, cash/coins, video games and guns.

Keep all doors and windows locked and if the home has a security alarm system always activate the alarm, even if you’re only going to be gone for short time.

For vehicles, auto-burglaries involve smashed windows or other forcible means to gain entry to locked vehicles.

Thefts from vehicles occur at all hours, day and night. All auto-burglaries generally have one thing in common: something to steal, something valuable left in the car. Many auto-burglaries are “crimes of opportunity”; they could have been avoided had simple preventative steps been taken, such as removing items from plain sight.

Auto-burglary prevention, like all crime prevention, involves limiting the criminal’s ability and/or opportunity to commit the crime. With very little time and effort, you can make a huge difference in your vulnerability to auto-burglary. It generally takes a mere few seconds to secure your valuables, but it will take only a few seconds more for a thief to break in and steal valuables left in plain sight.  Commonly taken items are GPS systems, money/Jewelry, cameras, IPOD’s, cell phones, CD/DVD’s, satellite radios, electronic games, computers, and sunglasses.

We need to be vigilant in our area because the criminals are attracted to La Crescenta and La Canada Flintridge and the high value targets in the homes and in the vehicles. Report all suspicious person(s) or activities to:

Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station

4554 N. Briggs Ave.

La Crescenta CA 91214

911 for emergencies

(818) 248-3464 business line

Recent crimes may be viewed at www.crimemapping.com and anonymous crime information may be submitted through CRIME STOPPERS 800 222-TIPS (84677) or http://lacrimestoppers.org.