Burglaries soar in the city

Burglaries soar in the city

By O’Ryan Johnson | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage

Boston Police have failed to stop a sharp spike in burglaries that’s gone unchecked across the city, while in some districts crooks even have managed to erase gains cops made earlier in the year.

Burglaries are up 17-percent citywide over the same period last year. Dorchester’s C-11 precinct, where the number of breaks had been down 8 percent year to date in July, has lost ground and seen burglaries rise 10 percent over the same time last year.

“(Breaking and entering) is an issue across the city,” said Boston police Superintendent William Evans.

He insisted efforts have taken hold in Roxbury, where robberies are up 59 percent, and in East Boston, which is up 25 percent. In recent weeks, he said, police have seen a drop in burglaries. “Over the last six weeks they’ve made significant arrests up there and fliered the neighborhood,” he said. “The numbers are still higher than we want them to be, but those districts made great (progress).”

Those reductions are not reflected on the new numbers released yesterday that show only year-to-date comparisons.

In July, cops noted an 11 percent rise in break-ins citywide and crafted a fix that relies on aggressive community outreach in Roxbury and East Boston. Cops and youth groups were sent door to door with fliers to warn people, and help them avoid becoming a victim. Evans said those efforts have paid off and police are using the same techniques in Dorchester, where hot spots along Dorchester Avenue and in Fields Corner are pushing numbers up.

He said a combination of factors could be driving the increase in break-ins citywide, including the unusually hot summer, when residents opened windows and doors or installed window air conditioners that can be pushed out by thieves. Evans said many the crooks that have been arrested are seasoned pros.

“These guys they’re catching are all career criminals. They’ve been grabbed 80 times before that,” he said. “It’s an uphill battle: As soon as we catch them, they’re right back out.”

Break-ins are on the rise in several other districts as well, such as Downtown’s A-1, where they are up 43 percent; Mattapan is up 37 percent; Jamaica Plain, 26 percent; and Allston-Brighton, 32 percent.

“Any trend that shows an uptick in crime concerns us,” said Paul Berkeley of the Allston Civic Association. “Allston-Brighton has been one of those places on the low side of violence, but on the higher side of burglaries. But it still concerns me that someone is breaking into houses.”

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