Thread: Home invasions on the rise in Las Cruces area

Home invasions on the rise in Las Cruces area

By Ashley Meeks
ameeks@lcsun-news.com
Posted: 05/07/2010 02:10:26 AM MDT

LAS CRUCES - Her mother's diamond earrings, the opal and diamond ring her late husband bought when they started going steady as teenagers, the black pearls he bought in Bora Bora, the 35-mm camera the thieves must have confused for an expensive digital version - Debbie Husson calmly tallied it all up after her East Picacho home was broken into last September.

"It took a little to sink in and absorb it," she recalled. "I went to go to bed that night and there was no pillowcase on my pillow. I know that sounds crazy, but they'd taken it to put the jewelry in. And that was when I sat and cried."

Since mid-April, more than 20 homes have been burglarized after having their doors kicked in during daylight hours - about eight times as many as usual, according to the Las Cruces Police Department.

"This is definitely a spike," said LCPD spokesman Dan Trujillo, who said it was unknown if the recent burglaries were committed by the same perpetrators.

Like the recent crimes, Husson's home was broken into just after 7:30 a.m., after the public school diagnostician had gone to work. The perpetrators came in through an open bathroom window - still coated in fine fingerprint powder - and went out the front door, leaving it wide open.

"The worst part was, my mother was here the whole time. She didn't hear it," Husson said. "The alarm would have been on if my mother wasn't there, but you don't typically arm your burglar alarm if someone's home."

When she went to Boudreau's Glenn Cutter Jewelers and Gallery for an estimate on her losses, she was told that she was the third victim that month of such a crime - two Picacho Hills women had also been robbed.

"I don't know if it's the economy or maybe it looks like a nice, safe neighborhood," Husson said. "But nothing's ever as safe as we think it is, I guess."

Grady Viramontes, of Meridian Systems, said one of his 30 clients suffered two such thefts in the year before he had an alarm system installed - a 72-inch flat screen TV, valued at $14,000, and its replacement, a $10,000 TV. Since having his system installed, which can start at $600, with $20 per month monitoring, his home hasn't been broken into again.

"Money is thin right now," said Viramontes. "That is going to drive crime up."

Many of the recent burglaries might have been avoided if people had kept their small electronics, purses, wallets and other belongings - especially easily grabbable flat-screen TVs - out of street view, Trujillo said.

While most of the recent invasions were committed while residents were away from home, Trujillo said at least three happened while someone was home - as in Husson's case. But Trujillo warned against being a "vigilante."

"The best thing is to get away from the situation, remove yourself," he said. "But, if your life or your property's in danger, then obviously call 911 and if you're in immediate danger, obviously you have to take care of yourself."

Anyone with any information on home invasions is asked to call central dispatch at (575) 526-0795 or Las Cruces Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) or send a tip via text message to LCTIPS (528477).

Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462

Reduce your chances of being victimized

• Keep residential doors and windows locked at all times, even when you're at home.

• Use a deadbolt lock in addition to the traditional spring-bolt lock on entry doors.

• Keep valuable items - such as purses, keys, iPods, cell phones and televisions - out of view from windows or screen doors.

• Break down and dispose of cardboard boxes that indicate recent purchases, and keep a list of serial numbers for valuable possessions.

• Keep a cell phone or land-line phone handy and nearby when you're at home.

• Utilize an audible home alarm system that is activated by motion or when an entry door is ajar.

• Be a good neighbor and immediately report suspicious activity, or suspicious behavior, in your neighborhood.

Source: LCPD

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_15037505?s ... ost_viewed

More people need to think about arming themselves.