Garage burglaries in Tanner Trails
** PRESS RELEASE **
Garage Burglary Trend
4/5/2013
NORTH AURORA, IL—The North Aurora Police would like to alert the public to three garage burglaries that occurred April 4-5th overnight in the Tanner Trails subdivision while the residents were home.
There were two cases which occurred in the 500 blk. of Kelley Dr. where the offender entered through the side garage service door. In one case the offender forced entry and went into vehicles and stole a purse and a laptop computer. In the other case, entry was made through the unlocked side service door but nothing was stolen. In the last case in the 2800 blk. of Berman Rd., the offender entered through the unlocked side service door but nothing was taken.
In the case with forced entry, the offender(s) forced entry with screwdriver or a tool of some kind. Two of the doors were left unlocked. None of the doors had deadbolts and there were no lights on outside at the service doors. While the offender(s) made entry into the garages, they did not attempt entry into the residence.
The North Aurora Police Department would like to offer the following suggestions for residents to reduce the chances of becoming a victim:
• Make sure all of your exterior doors, including garage service doors and doors from the garage into the house, are locked with deadbolts every night.
• Keep all of your exterior lights on, including those at the entrances, and keep bushes trimmed low. This makes it easy for your neighbors to see someone lurking around your home and removes easy hiding places for offenders.
• Consider installing window well covers with cotter pin locks. This not only keeps small children or animals from falling in, but it also keeps offenders out. Cotter pin locks allow you to escape easily (i.e. if there was a fire) but keep an offender from easily getting in your window well, where he can easily hide.
• Consider changing your exterior lights to motion activated lights to reduce energy consumption. Having lights turn on as an offender approaches is probably the best defense to scaring an offender off.
• Remove valuables from your vehicles in your garage and keep them locked.
We would also recommend that you keep a file with model & serial numbers for your valuables. This is very helpful to the investigation if you are ever the victim of a burglary. Doing these things will go a long way toward protecting yourself from property crime.
Finally, the North Aurora Police Department offers free Crime Prevention Surveys to its residents and businesses. Our Crime Prevention Officer, Robyn Stecklein, will come to your property, look for vulnerabilities, and give you suggestions on protecting your property from crime. You’ll get a written report detailing the findings.
To schedule a Crime Prevention Survey, contact Officer Robyn Stecklein at (630) 897-8705, ext. 716 or [email protected].
For more information, contact:
Deputy Chief Scott Buziecki
(630) 897-8705, ext. 752
[email protected]
Address/Location
Village of North Aurora
200 S Lincolnway St
North Aurora, IL 60542
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 630-897-8705
Scott Buziecki
Patrol Operations
[email protected]
630-897-8705
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