December Police Blotter

A plethora of burglaries as the year ends

After several months during which there were few break-ins reported in the neighborhood, Madison Park, for reasons not entirely clear, experienced a veritable rash of such incidents in the final month of 2013: nine separate incidents.

The first break-in occurred at Bert's Red Apple on the first day of the month, when during the night two suspects approached front door on the store but were apparently scared off when a car drove by.  As captured on Bert's security camera, the suspects soon returned with a third person, all of them with towels or shirts over their faces. One of them then broke a glass panel in one of the doors; but for reasons unknown the suspects suddenly left the area, never to return (or at least not to this point). Technically this was a break-in attempt, since the store was not entered.

On December 3, an expensive bike was stolen from a secured-parking garage on the 2300 block of 43rd Avenue E.  On December 9 on the 1600 block of 43rd Avenue E., someone gained entry to an apartment building and entered an apartment through a door which had been left ajar.  The victim had left her apartment to walk her dog and realizing that she had forgotten her keys called a close-by friend with a key to her apartment and asked the friend to go over an unlock the door so that she would be able to get in upon her return.  The suspect, however, got there before her.

On December 18 there was another smash-glass situation at a multi-family structure on the 1900 block of 42nd Avenue E.  The suspect(s) apparently gained access by trying to pry open a basement window, which shattered.  However, upon entering the basement the suspect(s) triggered the motion-detector system and were apparently scared off, leaving the premises with nothing stolen.  On December 19 at a multi-unit building on the 2000 block of 43rd Avenue E. resident noticed that the knob was broken off the front entrance door. Although the police were called and investigated, it was not evident that any interior storage lockers or mailboxes had been rifled.

On the day after Christmas, a house on the 1100 block of 38th Avenue E. was entered by suspects who kicked in the back door and "sacked" several rooms.  Among the items stolen were two hard drives, a camera tripod, and a Nikon camera.  The victims were apparently the house guests of the homeowners (who were away at the time), and the suspects mercifully did not steal the visitors' passports.  While in the house, the suspects attempted to pry open an upstairs safe with a crowbar; but when they couldn't get it open they rolled the safe down the stairs, causing "significant damage."  There were two other burglaries reported in the neighborhood in December, though the details were not immediately available to us.

During the month there was also one car theft (from the 2500 block on Canterbury Lane E. on December 28), and four car prowls (two on December 11 on the 2300 and 2000 blocks of 43rd Avenue E., one at 43rd Avenue E. and E. Howe St. on December 5, and one of the 2000 block of E. McGilvra Boulevard E. on December 28.)

[Map Key:  Starburst icons represent building/house break-ins, solid-car icons represent vehicle thefts, non-solid car icons represent car break-ins, and dollar-sign icons represent fraud, usually credit card or identity theft or both.]