THE police yesterday urged Islanders to lock their doors and windows following a 38 per cent rise in burglaries of non-commercial buildings for the first three months of the year.
However, the number is well down on the same period in 2002.
So far this year, there have been 40 domestic burglaries, including 20 into dwellings.
This compares with 74 in the first three months of 2002 (53 dwellings) and 29 in 2003 (17 dwellings).The police stressed that only 20 of those reported this year were on houses, compared to 17 in 2003, with the rest being sheds, garages and other outbuildings.Crime reduction officer Det con Bruce Liron said that the burglars were cashing in on people’s failure to lock up properly.The figures show a sharp rise in domestic break-ins compared with the first three months of last year and contrast sharply with the figures for commercial burglaries, which are down 20 per cent.Det con Liron said: ‘We are doing our part, now members of the public have to help us and do theirs.
This sort of increase causes concern, but there are simple things people can do.’He also urged people who have information about burglars to ring the confidential 0800 555111 Crimestoppers number.For the whole of last year, the States force reported a 32 per cent drop in domestic burglaries compared to 2002.
In 2003, there were a total of 164 such break-ins reported to the police, compared with 266 in 2002.
A combination of using intelligence to target known offenders, community policing and campaigns were given as reasons for the reduction.
Article posted on 27th March, 2004 - 12.00am
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