March Police Blotter

A dull month on the crime front

The level of criminal activity in the neighborhood, judging by the March police reports, remains relatively insignificant both in terms of the severity and the frequency of the incidents. Not that we can expect this respite to continue indefinitely, since we're obviously in the annual pre-summer criminal doldrums. When the warm weather returns we can expect the activity level to pick up. It's a cycle that we see repeated every year.

So while it makes for rather dull reading, let's enjoy the fact that there's no really interesting crime story to relate for this period. Here's what did transpire:

There were three actual burglaries and one attempted burglary during the month. The first incident occurred sometime between March 4 and 7 on the 600 block of 33rd Avenue E. On the 7th, a resident of a multi-unit building discovered that the padlocks had been removed from three separate storage lockers in the building's storage area. His locker was missing a set of golf clubs, but it was not known at the time of the police report what might have been missing from the two other lockers.

There was a burglary on March 20 on the 3200 block of E. Mercer St.  The homeowner reported that the wind had apparently blown a door open, allowing the perpetrator to enter the house without having to bother breaking in.  Several items were stolen from the premises. The police report cryptically notes that the door latch was likely insufficient to hold the door securely in heavy winds.

Another burglary occurred on the 2500 block of Canterbury Lane E. on March 23.  In that incident a resident of Canterbury Shores was awakened at 3:40 am by a loud noise in the office of the building manager.  Thinking that the manager may have needed some assistance, the resident went to the office where he found that the door was closed but there was definitely movement inside.  When he called out to ask if there was a problem the door was opened by a man wearing a scarf who then exited the office, followed by another individual (possibly female) wearing a hoodie.  Neither suspect spoke to the resident.  The building manager later confirmed that there were items missing from the office, but the police discovered no useable fingerprints.

On March 20 on the 2300 block of McGilvra Boulevard E. a resident discovered that while she was out walking her dog, someone had attempted to enter her house through a sliding window but had apparently been unable to get the window open wide enough to gain entry.  There was no property damage.

There were three car break-ins during the month, the first occurring on March 3 on the 500 block of 36th Avenue E., the second on March 28 on the 1000 block of 39th Avenue E., and the third on March 29 on the 2000 block of McGilvra Boulevard.

Finally, there were two cases of harassment reported.  In one of the incidents a Madison Park resident reported that she had received repeated unwanted phone calls from her former boss complaining about her having quit her job and demanding an explanation. The other incident involved an argument between a man, his "estranged girlfriend" and her mother.  Apparently during the long period before the breakup the man had been living in the apartment without the mother's knowledge, even though she was actually paying the monthly rent on the unit.  The ex-boyfriend, it seems, felt that he still had some rights associated with his tenancy, a position to which that the mother and daughter took exception. 9-1-1 was called at some point, though the situation was resolved without anyone being detained by police.

And that (other than one unsuccessful case of prescription forgery at the pharmacy) pretty well sums up the crime activity for March.  As we said, pretty dull reading (but certainly not dull enough for the victims).