Wednesday meeting to address residential burglaries

Bearing down on the increasing number of daytime residential burglaries, the Palo Alto Police Department will hold a community meeting Wednesday evening, March 28, to lay out the department’s actions to combat the rising crime rate and what residents can do to protect themselves.

The meeting kicks off the department’s “Lock It or Lose It!” campaign, which was officially launched last week. The campaign involves crime-prevention education, including how to prevent burglaries and how to recognize and report suspicious activity. As recent cases have shown, arrests were made after residents reported suspicious behavior, police said.

Several recent high-profile crimes have included daylight thefts of thousands of dollars in cash, jewelry and electronics. On March 20, $70,000 in jewelry was stolen from a residence. Nine residential burglaries occurred that week alone, according to police logs.

In the last 30 days, 31 residential burglaries have taken place throughout the city, starting on Feb. 26, according to CrimeReports.com, which is based on data supplied by Palo Alto police.

Topics at Wednesday’s meeting include facts about the crime trend, including a breakdown of statistics about where, when and how the burglaries are occurring, the many arrests, and actions the department has taken thus far to combat the crimes.

Police will also push residents’ roles in crime prevention, namely to lock up their valuables and report suspicious activity or persons. It is a theme the department has long been emphasizing. Palo Alto police hope that with a continual emphasis on locking up, residents will get the message and that will help reduce the opportunistic aspects of the crime, spokesman Lt. Zach Perron has said.

In 2011, unlocked doors and windows were the points of entry in 36 percent of the burglaries. In another 28 percent of cases, the entry point could not be determined, but it is likely that a door or window was left unsecured, police said. Burglars used force in only 36 percent of the cases, by cutting window screens, using pry tools or smashing windows, as examples.

“We understand the community is concerned about the spike in daytime residential burglaries,” Perron said. “We share that concern. Burglary prevention and burglar apprehension are our top priorities right now, and we’re doing our very best at it. But we really need the public’s help to be our eyes and ears out there. We encourage people to come to the meeting to learn more about what they can do to help.”

The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. in the Walter Hays Elementary School multipurpose room, 1525 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.