In-home robbery numbers jump up on Home Services

Jul

In-home robbery numbers jump up

posted by admin in Home Security

A man, beaten bloody in his home while robbers took his computer and cell phone; a gun held to a small child’s head during another robbery; a woman tied up with T-shirts in her own apartment before being robbed.

The descriptions sound like scenes from a TV crime drama, but they are from police reports documenting a series of home invasions in North Port over the past few weeks.

Such violent robberies are atypical for this city, where teenagers breaking into unlocked cars are more likely to dominate the police blotter.

North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis acknowledged the jarring nature of the crimes.

Despite the violence involved, police sought to reassure city residents, saying the robberies were not random. People who avoid shady company should not be overly alarmed, they said.

At the same time, violent crimes are slightly up in North Port compared with last year.

“As our city has doubled in size, so has the nature of the criminal activity,” Lewis said.

Property crimes such as burglary are up sharply, a sign of the tough economic times in the region.

North Port’s Neighborhood Watch program is working with police and driving through problem areas more frequently. The city’s growth has increased the need for Neighborhood Watch volunteers.

“We always can use more people,” said Apphia Downing, a watch manager. Volunteers are not supposed to put themselves in danger, just observe what they can and call police when they come across a possible crime.

Downing said the home invasions have made the neighborhood watchers more aware of the danger that is out there.

These home invasions stemmed from attempts to get money or valuables, and in each case the people who allegedly committed the crimes had some connection to the victims, who provided leads for investigators.

“Within hours we’ve had suspects in custody,” Detective Chris Morales said.

One victim stood out by wearing flashy jewelry and bragging about a collection of Air Jordan sneakers worth thousands of dollars that he kept in his home, police said. In other cases, authorities say, drugs were a factor.

“There’s more to most of these cases than random acts of violence,” Lewis said.

Danielle Hallman, sales director for the Heron Creek golf community, said the uptick in crime is not making people leery of coming here, especially from larger northern cities with a lot of violent crime.

But having a high gate and cameras at entryways does help people feel more secure, she said.

“A lot of that is perception,” Hallman said. “Remember, the gate doesn’t go all the way around the community. We do have a golf course.”