Police/Fire

Break-ins concerning for residents

WESTFIELD–Break-ins, particularly those of businesses, have seen an increase in the city since September.

MICHAEL MCCABE

MICHAEL MCCABE

According to police logs, break-ins of businesses have increased over the past three months, and break-ins into homes have more than doubled in the past month. Westfield Police capt. Michael McCabe said that although the home and business break-ins are possibly not related, the majority of the business break-ins may be.

“The pattern may be that it’s involved small businesses that don’t deal with large amounts of cash,” McCabe said. “When you see a string of breaking and enterings like this it is likely one perpetrator.”

McCabe said that the reason why the two may not be related is because burglars tend to stay with the kind of break-in that they have had success with, which separates

Overall, breaking and entering into businesses, including one church, have happened 11 times since Sept. 1 of this year. By comparison, there were just two break-ins of that kind in August of this year.

For home break-ins, the total jumped from three in October to eight in November. The break-ins have cost homeowners mostly home electronics, like video game systems and televisions. However, some yard equipment, including a snow blower, were also reported stolen.

McCabe could not comment on who is suspected of the crimes or what the motives are, since there are ongoing investigations into the burglaries.

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