Thousand Oaks Police Department City Watch Update - October 28, 2010

Here is the latest "City Watch" alert from Deputy Jim DeSoto of the Thousand Oaks Police Department. If you would like these updates directly from him via email, click here for more information.

Crime Fighters,

For the past two months I have been writing about the rash of appliance thefts from unoccupied homes and I have been preaching that we cannot do our duty as effectively without your help. With the help of a witness and a victim, we were able to arrest three adults who were responsible for about half of the 23 residential appliance thefts that occurred this year. From the witnesses’ description of the involved vehicles, data from our crime analysts, and some strategic placement of undercover police vehicles, we were able to arrest the suspects and later serve a search warrant on warehouse where some of the stolen property was recovered.

Although, with your help, we ended the shopping spree of the thieving trio, please remember that there are probably other groups taking advantage of the economic times and empty houses by committing similar crimes. These offenders are driving around and looking for unoccupied houses during the day and returning in the early morning hours to collect their ill-gotten gains. Whether the crook is looking for appliances from vacant houses or looking to perpetrate a residential burglary from an occupied house, the manner is the same. The thief still needs to walk-up to the house and “snoop” around by looking through windows and going through backyards. So, please be attentive and report all suspicious activity to our dispatch center at 805.654.9511.

Residential burglaries are, unfortunately, a fact of life but it is unusual to get two burglaries in the same immediate area on the same day. That scenario has happened twice within the past week. The north end of the city has seen a marked increase in residential burglaries with six occurring between October 21 and October 26. The residences that fell victim to burglary happened on Calle Castano, Calle Manzano, two on Chaucer Place, Odebolt Drive, and Wildcreek Circle. A couple of houses were located on street corners and most of the entries occurred via a rear window—both forced and unforced entries. On residence was entered through a second story street-facing window. The suspect vehicle involved in the thefts is a tan or brown Dodge Intrepid.

I keep emphasizing reporting suspicious activity when it is happening for a very good reason. In one of these burglaries, a person witnessed the burglary and getaway with the stolen property by the suspects but the witness never bothered to call or notify the police until the deputy was taking the crime report hours later.

To help target harden your home against burglaries, lock your side gates and keep all windows and doors locked whenever you are away from your residence. In the previous paragraph I wrote that burglars made entry through a second story, unlocked window that faced the street; so, please also keep those second story windows and doors locked. A neighborhood watch program is also a fantastic deterrent along with residents who are interested and concerned about the safety and security of their surroundings. The reason why the appliance thieves did not target other cities, especially the L.A. Valley, was, in their own words, the people in the Valley were “too nosy.” For our own good, we all need to be “nosy” and become active participants in crime prevention.

Last week a trio of crooks robbed two liquor stores within 30 minutes of each other. One robbery happed in Simi Valley and the other robbery occurred in Moorpark. These crooks seem to have an attraction to liquor stores and Thousand Oaks has its share of these types of businesses. We seem to be always in a hurry and we do need to slow down. Before entering a liquor store, bank, jewelry store, etc. look around and ensure that it is safe to enter those types of businesses and that nothing unusual is happening.

In keeping with our theme of repetitive crime committed by the same criminals, within a three-day period suspects broke into two CVS stores (North Moorpark Road and Agoura Road) by smashing the front entry glass doors and helping themselves by absconding with numerous cartons of cigarettes. Needless to state, the thieves did not bother to pay for the items as they scampered their way past the checkout stands.

If you have any information about any of these crimes, please call our detectives at 805.494.8201 and if you are interested in starting a neighborhood watch program please call 805.371.8362. As a community we need to join together and wage our battle against crime.

Take care,

Jim (DeSoto)