Police Blotter 8/27

A rash of break-ins, drug deals go down

There have been three residential break-ins in Madison Park during the last week. There was a forced-entry burglary in the 1200 block of 41st Avenue E. on 8/21, which occurred just three days after a forced-entry burglary three blocks over, on the 1200 block of 38th Avenue E. In that incident, an appraiser arriving at a house discovered damage to the front door and evidence that the back door had been forced open. Police discovered that drawers and cupboards had been ransacked, and the homeowner later reported that items had been stolen. Even Broadmoor was not immune to this type of crime. A homeowner on the 1500 block of Parkside Drive E. reported that her garage had been broken into (although it had a combination keypad and none of the remote control devices were missing). In that incident an I-Pod was stolen from a car in the garage and $350 was stolen from a purse just located inside the house. No fingerprints were found in any of these incidents.

There have been three car break-ins reported since our last Police Blotter on 8/14. Car prowls occurred on the 2000 of 43rd Avenue E. on 8/16, and on the 2300 block of 43rd Avenue E. and the 1600 block of 41st Avenue E. on 8/20. All of these were early to mid-morning break-ins, with items stolen in each case.

There were also a couple of other incidents of theft reported in the area. One involved the use of force and occurred in the Arboretum on 8/21. The victim reported that someone came up behind him and put his arm around the victim’s throat, demanding his wallet. The suspect took the wallet and victim’s cell phone. A sad aspect of the police report is the notation that the victim tried to get someone near him to call 911, “but no one would help.”

Finally, there’s been drug activity in the neighborhood. In an incident on 8/18 police arrested a suspect on the 3200 block of E. Madison St. for the sale of heroin. The following week, I myself witnessed what clearly must have been a drug buy. While walking my dogs down an alley I came upon a suspicious truck parked so closely to a neighbor’s gate that the driver would have been unable to exit his vehicle. When he saw me coming, the driver started his engine and raced away, only to slowly circle the block. Later a second truck drove past the suspicious vehicle and stopped at a stop sign up the street. The suspicious vehicle pulled up next to the other truck at the intersection and a plastic bag containing a white powder was passed to the second driver. Both vehicles then raced away.

If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.