Just the facts: Burglary stories from the victims

A few weeks ago, BD reported on the recent jump in residential burglaries, including the now-captured Garage Burglar, taking place in the Lower Greenville area.

The most recent DPD incident reports for this area show that it is getting harder and harder to protect your home (note: These stats do not include residential areas north of Vickery Avenue).

BD asked his readers to tell about their recent incidents, with the intent of putting up a map to show the events. Instead, we have decided to post their comments and only general descriptions of their home's locations.

These comments have been edited for spelling and a little bit of grammar checking only.

If you want to submit your burglary story, click here...

Vanderbilt @ Greenville

My neighbors had two guys attempt to kick in their front and back doors a week ago last Tuesday (?), 18 September, at about 2:00 a.m., while they were sleeping inside. The homeowners were clearly at home (two cars in the driveway, front and back porch lights on, etc.), but that did not seem to bother the bad guys. They finally left when the owners started making noise.

Lower Greenville @ Belmont

It happened between 10PM and 10AM on September 6, 2007. They broke out the right rear quarter window of my 84 Honda Prelude. They stole some tools I had left in there (never a good idea), but didn't steal the car stereo (old).

The funny thing about it is I have a spotlight directly shinning on it at night, so it was well light for the thieves. The police did come out and took fingerprints (I was surprised, they wouldn't do that in Plano), but I haven't heard anything back on it.

Comment re extended neighborhood patrols being promoted by local neighborhood associations

The response from the city seems to be that urban areas need to band together and hire their own security force, often comprised of off-duty policemen. Police protection in our M-Street neighborhoods is a joke.

Dallas is moving rapidly in the direction taken by Houston, in which neighborhood-sponsored security takes the place of tax-funded police in keeping neighborhoods safe. This outsourcing of police protection to private contractors does not lower the tax rate, unfortunately.

Goodwin @ Greenville

The burglary happened sometime between 2:45 and 3:00 p.m. last Friday. Two men drove what was described an old 4-door car. The front license plate was covered up. Two men that kicked the front door open. This was a solid door.

We have a 45lb lab mix and she almost always barks and growls when someone comes to the door. I assume she did, but this must not have been much of a deterrent. Interestingly, and I am thankful for this, our dog was not hurt and was actually put in the backyard by one of the burglars, possibly because she was getting in their way while they carried our belongings, including our big screen TV, to their car.

At some point, while one of the burglars was loading the trunk, a passer-by saw a white male come out of the house with more items. This must have spooked the burglars, because they drove off.

Merrimac @ Central

Although the DPD caught a couple of them, I thought you might still want to map my house. I'm at Central and Merrimac. They got us on August 15.

Ridgedale @ Central

Our house was burglarized on Friday, 28 September. The thieves broke in through the back door sometime in the afternoon. Our barking dog -- who was in the kitchen, where they entered -- did not deter them.

Luckily they did not hurt the dog -- who is not a guard dog. They stole our laptop computer, a lot of my clothes, a couple of duffle bags, our social security cards (which were in wallets with other miscellaneous stuff) and some jewelry.

Lakewood

My fiance was robbed on September 9 (Sunday, while we were at church). They popped open a storm window in the back bedroom (closet to the alley), stole a flat screen TV, $50,000 in jewelry and another $10,000 in rare coin and money collection. Not to mention a camera, blackberry, chargers, DVDs, etc.

And just like your article stated - THEY WENT OUT THE BACK DOOR! As the weeks have gone on we keep finding more and more missing. We've been devastated. We we're shocked when the police finally arrived 2.5 hours later and said There's been a lot of this lately.

.... We had no idea. I read your article on them catching some of the thieves. I pray our keepsakes, mementos and valuables will be recovered.

Comment re crimewave, sent to Council Member Angela Hunt and BD

I have lived or rented in the M-Streets for about seven years. Monday or Tuesday, while I was out of town, the backdoor of my 1920s arts & crafts was beat down and the valuables stolen. (I bought it less than two months ago.) Two months prior, I moved away from a home at Vickery and Homer because my car had been broken into twice in one month and I seemingly couldn’t do anything to stop it. Each break in required a $500 deductible for repairs, for a total of $1000.00.

The important angle is this… All of my friends that are the same age as me have moved from the area specifically because of this crime that they and that I have encountered. I am the very last one left of a group of over 20 of us. In fact, it has become a joke among our group that when I travel to 972, I have to endure the new car smell pumped into the air. They comment that when they travel to 214, that they have to call their loved ones and strap on their Kevlar.

While we have fun with this banter, there’s a very real trend behind it... While those in their mid-twenties once rented and then bought within the area (I have rental props in the M-Streets, so I have sense for this), they now rent, are criminally violated and move out when it comes time to buy. If they are single, they often move to Uptown. If they are with another, they move to Lake Highlands or the safety of the burbs. This concerns me because this youth is good for the area – it always has been. Youth in the area contributes to upgraded homes, better businesses being in the area, higher sales, etc. All of which provides for very high home value which equals more property taxes for the city. Blah, blah, blah…

The police officer and crime scene team shared a lot of concerning things with me yesterday, including the recent crime wave, the fact the force is 700 officers shy and that police officers are not allowed to chase non-felony criminals.

I think that the crime combined with the trend is newsworthy, as it strikes fear in the people of the area. Fear is a catalyst for change, I think. Also, if we can get the message broadcast, it lets the whole DFW area know how bad it is down here (and, we are otherwise just like them). This is a reputation that Dallas can’t afford to have within the area, as it scares away homeowners and businesses, and that’s definitely a catalyst for change.

Comments re crime in Dallas and extended neighborhood patrols

The Dallas Police Department is heavily pushing their private security guard program over in our neck of the woods. This is where you get your neighborhood to pitch in and fund a security policeman to patrol your own neighborhood. The average cost is $42,000 dollars per year – so depending on how many of your neighborhood neighbors (your conservation area) want to join this program equals the amount each homeowner pays.

And yes, those in your area that don'tpay are still covered – however – they don’t receive special privileges such as the on-duty policeman taking extra watch of your home while you’re out of town.

I have a Love/Hate relationship with this idea as our area of Dallas is already paying through the nose on our property taxes – which have somewhat helped make Uptown and now Downtown more desirous. So what I’m hearing is that if we pay a policeman more $$$, then he’ll do his job. I don’t care for that thought process. However, this type of program is apparently growing all over Dallas– and might be the only option. Houston is another city where this type of program is already in place.

There is a rumor that only states in the South use this type of program – so I am curious to know if cities such as Chicago, LA or New York readily admit to their own police departments not being able to control crime in non-ghetto type areas of their cities and maybe they are using programs such as this to help control it???

I went to a City Budget meeting a couple of weeks ago and listened to Angela Hunt as well as others. Crime was coming in as the #1 issue all over town. There is a direct link with the upswing in crime in the M-Streets area due to the upswing in construction – those always go hand in hand. Something to consider when developers start circling like hawks – not only are they trying to make the M-Streets area Little Plano… they’re also part of the reason you’re spending more of your hard earned money replacing and/or fixing things that have been stolen or broken into.

Our little block has had at least seven break ins over the summer – one house hit twice – just like yours. The police that came out to take the multiple police reports – on two of the seven occasions – told our neighbors that 1) we paid too much for our property taxes to live in such a bad area of town and/or 2) told us we should move.

Niiiice…. They don’t do their job so we have to move. Or perhaps it’s We’re not going to do our job unless you guys pay us more $$$ because the City’s not going to do it. Something to think about….