Rash of daylight break-ins in Tillsonburg
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CHRIS ABBOTT - TILLSONBURG NEWS
Oxford County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is currently investigating a series of daylight break and enters and thefts that occurred on June 4, 2014 between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Break and enters occurred in residences throughout the town on June 4th on the following streets – Quarter Town Line, William Street, Myrtle Street, and North Street.
"On Quarter Town Line there were three, and two on William Street," said Oxford OPP constable Lisa Narancsik, noting officers went door-to-door in their investigation to see if other houses had been broken into. "They wanted to make sure they found all the houses where maybe something was done."
Entry was gained through locked and unlocked patio doors, garage doors and windows.
"Some of the doors were not locked," said Narancsik. "And entry was not gained at all of the houses. There were some attempts and damage done to the door – they must have had a good locking system on their door because they weren't able to get into the house.
"But some walked right in."
Items taken from the break and enters was mostly cash and jewellery.
"Most of these were rear doors, so the person was going into the back yards, whether it was a garage door, window or patio door – they were targeting the back areas. So people may be locking but they should make sure that the patio doors are secure as well. Even if we have fenced yards, people still go into them."
PRINTS OBTAINED
OPP have been vigilant in their patrols and will continue to do so, said Narancsik, adding OPP Forensic Identification Unit was on site and they were able to obtain some latent prints.
The OPP is asking residents to be aware of suspicious vehicles and people that may be in neighbourhoods but seem as though they do not belong. The public should try to get descriptions, licence plate numbers and direction of travel and report this immediately to their local police service. It is important for this information to get to police when the suspects may still be in the area.
"We find that afterwards people will say, 'I saw this person who didn't seem like they belonged...' but they didn't phone us at the time. So they have to get descriptions and let us know."
When In Doubt – Call And Have Police Check It Out!
Anyone having information on this or any other incident can contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.
"When you put out the times, then people start thinking about 'what was I doing?' and they can get descriptors. That's what happened the last couple of rashes we had – it seemed we were able to catch the guys doing it – people started thinking about what they had seen."