First published in the Aug. 25 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
A surge in residential burglaries during July prompted the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station to increase patrols throughout La Cañada Flintridge the past few weeks in an effort to deter crime.
LCF reported 10 residential burglaries last month, the most of any month so far in 2022, increasing the annual total to 44. The city also saw an uptick in reported burglaries with four after having none during the previous two months.
“We’re going to have 14 extra cars coming up in the next couple of weeks just to do saturation patrol from one of our detective divisions,” Sheriff’s Capt. Robert Hahnlein said during a City Council meeting Aug. 16. “They flood the area with black-and-whites plus undercover cars.”
Hahnlein attributed the recent spike in incidents to an experienced South American crew that first hits homes in California and moves across the United States. Fully covered and wearing gloves, the perpetrators target bedrooms and move quickly to steal portable valuables such as jewelry.
“We have no fingerprints or DNA because they transport fresh crews every time,” said Hahnlein, who is also working with community partners and volunteers to provide additional patrol cars.
“[The] major crimes bureau is working on that problem and trying to identify people as they get caught along the way, and we can usually tie them to the burglaries that start here and work their way across… They’re very cunning and crafty and know what they’re doing,” he added.
Hahnlein urged residents to improve their home security systems by installing cameras and motion-sensor lights around the property. He also recommended an alarm that triggers the sound of a dog barking when motion is detected.
In some cases, residents did not have cameras or lights that could have discouraged the burglars from breaking into their homes.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the homes that they target, everybody’s front door is usually very locked with all these deadbolts, but they go to the backdoor, which has a flimsy lock on it, and they easily break in or go through an unlocked window,” Hahnlein said.
“It doesn’t matter how many cars we have out there, we won’t know if you’re getting burglarized unless someone calls us or you get a Ring camera activation and let us know, ‘Hey, someone is coming up on our yard,’” he added.
Cases of larceny and theft did go down in July with 18 reported incidents. There were also two robberies, two grand-theft auto incidents and one aggravated assault.
There have been a total of 252 part 1 offenses — serious crimes such as robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, sex offenses and homicide — so far, this year, the highest number in the past five years.
Most of crimes committed have been theft, and some of them have occurred at retail stores that have had a “hands-off” policy regarding loss prevention that fails to deter thieves from stealing.
TJ Maxx on Foothill Boulevard has been hit with multiple thefts recently, but Hahnlein said he is hopeful that the number of incidents at the LCF location will go down. A field investigative manager from TJ Maxx assured him that they are “upping their efforts to apprehend some of these criminals,” he said.
“They’re working closely with our detectives,” Hahnlein told the council. “They’ve seen a slowdown in robberies, and they’re looking into doing other deterrent efforts at this particular store. And they’re looking at buying their own Flock [camera] system to tie into the city one so they can look into their entrances and exits.”
