Burgled Juneau: Reported burglaries triple in just four years

The Flats neighborhood of downtown Juneau.
The Flats neighborhood of downtown Juneau. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)

Burglaries were up dramatically last year, continuing with the trend of the past several years. The Juneau Police Department said there were 310 burglaries reported in 2016. That’s triple the 94 burglaries that were reported in 2012.

Listen to the story about the jump in Juneau burglaries:

 

Last year’s spike in burglaries continued even into the first few months of this year, Juneau Police Detective Benjamin Beck said.

“It appears to me that there is a group of serial burglars, people who were repeatedly committing burglaries. And I think it’s evident by some arrests that have been made lately,” Beck said. “After those arrests, the amount of burglaries has declined rapidly. There’s been a huge drop in burglaries after those arrests.”

Despite that, Beck said there are still burglaries committed as random crimes of opportunity.

Burglary is defined as any unlawful entry into a structure to commit theft.

Burglars tend to hit businesses during the night, and go through homes during the day when everyone is at work or school.

“It was more initially just like shock of, wait, somebody was in our house and then feeling kind of violated and feeling yucky,” said Amy Dressel, whose house was burglarized in February.

The shock later turned to sadness as she realized what was missing, she said.

It’s possible that someone was watching her house in February before they burglarized it, Dressel said. The burglar went through her place after she left for work and while her mom was out walking the dogs.

“They obtained entry to our house and then they went through the bedrooms and emptied every possible thing that they could find that was of value: jewelry boxes, memory boxes,” Dressel said. “They went through the drawers of the bedrooms and, I guess, shelfs.”

Dressel said some of her acquaintances found a few of her items disposed by the burglar in the landfill and in Gold Creek.

Craig Millard suspects that someone broke into his house, twice.

The first time was in December when someone entered through a garage side door and stole winter coats and camping gear stored in the garage.

The burglar returned in March while he and his roommate were sleeping and stole a few items in the kitchen area.

“The first time it was probably unlocked and that’s how they got in,” Millard said. “The second time JPD thinks that they probably carded the door knob because that’s why we got that plate installed.”

A new set of interlocking plates on the garage’s side door and door jamb prevents the old trick of using your identification or credit card to enter a locked door.

David Noon said someone last October kicked in a poorly installed deadbolt lock on the backdoor of his house.

The burglar made a mess in the living room before running off with Noon’s hard drive full of children’s photos, his kids Pokémon cards and his grandfather’s pocketwatch.

“I noticed a couple things that were odd, like I had a new pair of headphones that I couldn’t find and there was a deck of cards that was strewn on the floor,” Noon said. “I got in touch with my daughter and she’s like ‘No, I didn’t make that mess.’ And that’s when it just clicked in my head that there had been some burglaries in the neighborhood.”

The burglar didn’t bother taking a small antique silver set and signed Norman Rockwell prints. Luckily, Noon said he had his laptop and iPad with him when the burglar paid a visit.

“There is a direct correlation between the opioid epidemic, the use of powdered drugs, generally — by that I mean heroin and methamphetamine — and our unprecedented spike in property crime,” District Attorney James Scott said.

Despite staff layoffs and sweeping changes in drug laws that reclassified some possession crimes as misdemeanors, Scott said prosecution of burglaries and drug crimes still is a priority.

“The vast majority of people that we prosecute for residential burglaries and business burglaries are people who ultimately are found to be committing crimes to support drug habits,” Scott said.

The Juneau Police Department also said thefts and larcenies also increased last year. From 2012 through 2015, they ranged from 742 to 991. They increased to 1,212 last year.

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