Rash of residential burglaries hits Broken Arrow

A rash of residential burglars has hit Broken Arrow. The city normally has 10 break-ins each month, but they had 27 home burglaries in October and 20 more in November. <br><br>In most cases, the burglars

Tuesday, December 4th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A rash of residential burglars has hit Broken Arrow. The city normally has 10 break-ins each month, but they had 27 home burglaries in October and 20 more in November.

In most cases, the burglars hit during the daytime hours and kicked in the front door. News on Six crime reporter Lori Fullbright says they're not stealing the usual items. They're not carting off TV's, VCR's or computers, they're only taking things they can put in their pockets and make a fast get-away. Shirley left her house to run errands and returned to a splintered front door. "We had a deadbolt in it and they knocked it out and it few across the room and this is cracked and the front it tore apart."

Shirley had been making piecrusts for Thanksgiving and took her rings off, and that's what the burglars took. "I set my rings here and my good watch and my husband had two watches here. They took the rings but, not the watch." The rings were irreplaceable since they were made from Shirley's deceased parents' wedding rings. The burglars also snatched a video camera, and new 35-millimeter camera. "It had a whole year's worth of video of our grandkids on it, so, that hurt me too."

Broken Arrow Police say burglaries exploded a couple of months ago and show no signs of letting up. Broken Arrow Police Cpl Curtis Sprague, "A lot of them happen when they leave for work or to run errands which leads us to believe the burglars are casing the houses." So, neighbors need to get detailed descriptions of anyone suspicious sitting or driving through the neighborhood. "We've got roughly 100 sworn officers. We can have 100 sets of eyes watching or 100-thousand set of eyes, the more we have, the better chance we can catch these guys." And, the sooner that happens, the sooner people like Shirley can rest easier. â€œIt is very hard to be in the house and be alone. It's scary that they might know that and it puts in on edge."

And, remember, criminals come in all shapes and sizes and even sexes, so, even if it's a woman you see sitting in the neighborhood, call Police, because when it comes to burglars, you can't rule anyone out.