Broken windows – a burglar's favorite trick

Take time to read through the four pages of burglaries in the Maple Leaf, Roosevelt and Ravenna neighborhoods that Diane Horswill, police community coordinator for the North Precinct, brought to this week’s burglary forum.

They summarize 35 break-ins in the past few weeks. Of those, 18 involved breaking a window (or a glass door panel):

• “The suspect(s) had broken a ground level window, reached inside, unlocked it and entered.”
• “They discovered a broken basement window.”
• “She came home to find a kitchen window broken and the house rifled.”
• “An unknown suspect used an axe head to break a kitchen window and enter this house, the homeowner’s 15-year-old son was asleep upstairs and was awakened by breaking glass….”
• “The victim came home to find that the suspect(s) had used a brick to break out her kitchen door window and then reached inside to unlock the door.”
• “The suspect(s) threw a brick through the glass in his back door and rifled his wife’s jewelry box and smashed a child’s piggy bank.”
• “When they returned they found that someone had thrown a cement brick through their basement window and stole some cash.”
• “He found that someone had broken out the glass in his back door, reached in and unlocked it.”
• “When the victim arrived home he found a kitchen window smashed and a number of guns, cash, jewelry, camera and iPod were stolen.”
• “When they came home they found a kitchen window broken out, jewelry and video games had been stolen.”
• “The 15-year-old son of the homeowner was upstairs working on his computer when he heard the sound of breaking glass.”
• “The victim came home to find that the glass window in her basement door had been broken with a brick.”
• “When the victim came home he discovered that someone had broken his backdoor window and reached in and unlocked the door.”
• “The victim came home to find her kitchen window broken out and two laptops, video players and games had been stolen, the house has an alarm but it was not set.”

It was a broken window that alerted neighbors to the burglary that ended in the arrest of six teens in Maple Leaf.

But there are other tricks: “The victim came home to find his home broken into by accessing the cat door.”