Though Davis experienced somewhat of an influx in residential burglaries earlier this year, Lt. Paul Doroshov of the Davis Police Department (DPD) says the numbers have mostly returned to normal.
January saw a total of 11 residential burglaries. In February, the total spiked to 30; in March, 21; and in April back to 20.
What do these numbers mean? According to Doroshov, February and March were considered a spike, but April’s numbers are consistent with the number of burglaries reported the previous year.
Doroshov explained a couple of likely causes of the spike.
“That’s during the period of time in which we had a couple of burglaries going on,” Doroshov said. “One was Kyle Frank, in which he was primarily taking prescription drugs.”
Frank, a 37-year-old man from Placerville, was arrested by the DPD on March 29 when they responded to a call from a 12-year-old boy who was in the house while the burglary was taking place, stated the press release from the DPD.
Updates on Frank’s case are currently unavailable and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.
“We also had other folks who were actually ransacking, breaking into people’s homes and taking their valuables,” Doroshov said.
The DPD addressed these two major trends in burglaries by putting together a task force.
“Kyle Frank was caught, and we arrested some of the people from a car stop made by the Sacramento Police Department,” Doroshov said. “Back in the beginning of the year, they had come across some property taken by one of our burglars and they just didn’t know it. They knew the property was shaky, but they didn’t know it had been stolen. We later matched the property and arrested those folks.”
But for May, the burglaries no longer match the trends seen at the beginning of the year, Doroshov explained.
“The main trends were that they were during the day when people weren’t home. A couple of people were home; the suspect just didn’t know it,” Doroshov said. “These were homes, forced entries, ransacked for valuables, with a more or less exclusive signature to them.”
Now, what Davis is seeing, said Doroshov, is its typical run-of-the-mill burglary activity.
“We still have burglaries, we had one over the weekend at an apartment complex. It doesn’t appear to be related to any of the ones we had been seeing,” Doroshov said. “These are more just your standard, what happens in Davis on a regular basis.”
The trends had been taking place primarily in South, West and East Davis, in the new area around Mace Ranch, and the residential area around where the police department is located. Davis usually sees most of its crime around freeways, as is typical of most cities, Doroshov said.
Doroshov’s analysis is in accordance with updates given by the Old North Davis Neighborhood Association (ONDNA) and the Oeste Manor Neighborhood Association, which said to not have been notified of any recent activity.
Steve Tracy, vice president of ODNA, said the burglaries the neighborhood has been seeing are well within statistical range.
Dennis Dingemans, board member and Vice Chair of ODNA, said that according to the city police crime mapper, only one grand theft and one robbery have occurred within the last 90 days.
“The data show that crimes are very uncommon in OND,” Dingemans said. “The perception of crime and the fear of crime are correspondingly low.”
Sarah Boone, member of the Oeste Manor Neighborhood Association, said that she while she was not privy to any recent crimes, many crimes in the neighborhood go unreported, as students who live there are less likely to report.
“Students who lose things, who have things stolen out of their car or out of their rooms, maybe they think their roommates stole it, but maybe somebody actually walked into their house and walked away with it, often do not bother notifying anyone about it,” Boone said. “Half our neighborhood is residences with student renters.”
To combat neighborhood crimes, Boone advocates getting to know one’s neighbors over the typical neighborhood watch approach.
“I think that the best way to deal with the neighborhood is to learn to know your neighbor and watch out for each other,” Boone said. “Build a neighborhood, build a community. That’s the hardest part.”
EINAT GILBOA can be reached city@theaggie.org.
