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Show Burglaries Increase ' At Christmas Season I By GARY R. BLODGETT BOUNTIFUL - It's that time of year again. It's the Yule season - and the season of the year when house burglaries and shoplifting go hand in hand with the purchase of Christmas gifts. "WE ALWAYS have a dramatic increase of house burglaries and shoplifting beginning about Thanksgiving Thanksgiv-ing and extending through the Christmas season," said Bountiful Police Chief Larry Higgins. "Already there have been a rash of house burglaries in the city, and the trend is expected ex-pected to increase as it gets closer to Christmas unless home owners do things to curb the influx of this particular par-ticular crime." HE SAID more than a dozen homes in Bountiful and neighboring communities have been burglarized recently with the string of thefts netting burglars more than $10,000 in items reported stolen. "In some homes the culprits appeared to take things at random, not being very selective in what they stole," the chief said. "Some homes, however, had money, guns, television sets, stereo sets, microwave ovens, cameras and jewelry taken. Some of these families lost quite a bit of valuable merchandise." LT. DON Taylor, in charge of the investigations, said the suspects appeared to act as a . team commiting crimes primarily between 6-10 p.m. while the residents were away. "In almost every burglary, entry was made by twisting door knobs off doors by use of a large pair of pliers," said Lt. Taylor. "It's that time of year again, the holiday season, and we can count on increased burglaries just like clockwork." CHIEF HIGGINS said most of Bountiful's recent home burglaries have been in the south end of the city. "But that can change anytime," he quickly added. The chief urged home owners to install dead-bolt locks on all their doors and do whatever is necessary to better bet-ter secure their windows. "IF A burglar has to spend time getting into your home, he'll go elsewhere," the chief said. "If he can't get in within 20 or 30 seconds and with a minimum amount of effort and noise, he'll pick another house that will be easier to pick." Chief Higgins stressed the importance of having neighbors neigh-bors watch your home and you watch theirs in a "neighborhood "neigh-borhood watch" program. "THIS PROGRAM is endorsed en-dorsed by the Hands-Up group and is a real good program," the chief said. He also urged Bountiful residents to identify their valuables and merchandise with a "merchandise marker" from the police station. sta-tion. "WE HAVE 15 or so of these markers that can be checked out by residents to mark their belongings for identification purposes in case it (merchandise) is stolen and then itofC Higgins. ' said The chief alsor from vehicles have included ,j '7 W'lhm vehicle (llr,, ' sail t bMERCHANTSAI( take Precaution ; 0' jngcasesth,, h'nng uniform! Patrol the larger riJ ctIi' just like any oS ,s a ser'us crim ' :' Chi H,g6i"mt' shoplifters will be ' fingerprinted, etceb. ngS scheduled in 5' doing all ,ha, weT" prevent burglaries shoplifting in Bountiful |
