by Sergio L. Guadarrama, Neighborhood Patrol Officer
Good day ladies and gentlemen! This is your eager crime fighting NPO coming at you live from the confines of the Bat Cave. The summer seems to have blown by in the blink of an eye and Fall will be upon us very soon. The summer was brutal at times and the fall weather will be a welcomed visitor and a nice relief from the heat. That being said, it was an active summer in the sense of crime with the vast majority of it being property crime. That is a good thing but not out of the ordinary since violent crime has not been prevalent in the neighborhood for quite some time.

The issues that continue to target the neighborhood range from porch thefts to home burglaries. Although home burglaries have dropped a great deal (since the apprehension of the infamous doggy door burglar) it’s the vehicle burglaries that have remained pretty steady. It’s been made well known from my Facebook posts that I love catching burglars and thieves. I understand the feeling of being victimized since I have been a victim of burglary more than once. I know that many of you have taken the proper precautions of purchasing a good security system, installing cameras and reinforcing the doors to your house. These precautions are effective and help us a great deal when it comes to preventing burglaries and apprehending suspects. Of course they don’t prevent all burglaries, but the drop in the number of home burglaries is reassuring.

The burglaries of vehicles in the neighborhoods is a different story. Since I’ve been your NPO I’ve done my best to give advice to you all on how to prevent car burglaries. The number one thing that you can do, and that I ask every single one of you to do, is to remove ALL valuables from your vehicle and put them in your house. I will never blame a victim of a burglary/theft. The blame is solely with the person who is committing the crime. However, there are steps that can be taken to lower your chances of becoming a victim. It starts with taking valuables out of your car. Another step you can take is to TAKE ALL VALUABLES OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE. Do you see where I’m going with this? Burglars usually take inventory of what’s in your vehicle before committing the burglary. They’ll take anything they see that could be worth a trip to a pawn shop or to trade for drugs.

I know it can seem like a hassle to take tools in and out of your work truck every day and every night, but it considerably lowers your chances of being a victim of burglary. I know that sometimes we can be complacent about leaving things in our cars, but please take that extra time to take everything out of your vehicles.

I hate that anyone is a victim of burglary or theft. When I see items such as purses, backpacks, laptops, wallets, firearms, cell phones, jewelry, work tools, car keys, iPads, etc. listed as stolen property in burglary of vehicle reports, I blame myself. I feel like I haven’t done enough to inform you of trends in the neighborhood. Now, if I blame myself then you know that my supervisor and my supervisor’s supervisor are looking to me to come up with ways to curb these trends. So please help me out by taking the proper precautions that’ll keep you from being a victim.

We will continue to try and do our part by being visual deterrents and giving extra patrol when we can, but everyone needs to do their part as well. Together we can curb these vehicle burglaries by taking small but important precautions. Please keep doing what you are doing when it comes to watching over each other’s houses or vehicles and always call in suspicious activity. You have been doing a great job when it comes to providing extra eyes and ears and I hope that continues.

Have I told you lately how much I enjoy being your NPO? No? Well, now I have. You all do a great job of keeping me sharp and on my toes. I wouldn’t want it any other way. That is all. Carry on.