Information currently circulating around town that specific neighborhoods are experiencing an increase in residential burglaries perpetrated
by criminal street gangs is false.
Monrovia city officials recently received emails from residents alleging a presumed epidemic of burglaries in a specific region of the city. The rumors further highlighted that these crimes were being perpetrated by an organized band of roving street gang members.
Police officials said this information is not true.
In fact, residential burglaries in Monrovia and in the region have dropped in the past year, said Monrovia Police Capt. Alan Sanvictores. Though burglaries
and crimes of opportunity may never be fully stamped out in a metropolitan community, residential burglaries that have occurred do not appear to be gang related or focused upon a specific area or neighborhood.
“Burglaries that have occurred in Monrovia, unfortunate though they are, show no signs or patterns of a specific area in Monrovia being targeted by a specific group of people,” Capt. Sanvictores said.
Over the past year, the Monrovia Police Department has made arrests for residential burglaries. Throughout the Monrovia Police Department’s investigative process, none of the apprehended suspects have been found to have any gang affiliations.
If residents see something suspicious in their neighborhood, they are encouraged to call 911, the Monrovia Police Department main line at (626)256-8000 or the mobile hotline at (626) 357-CELL (2355).
To find out whether any criminal activity has occurred in your neighborhood, view the police reports online at www.cityofmonrovia.org. These reports are updated
weekly.
- Brad Haugaard (from city press release)
I am very disappointed in your verbiage. Your reference to the Monrovia burglaries being perpetrated by local gang members may be true. I do not dispute your arrest record. The fact of the matter is there have been multiple recent residential burglaries in North East Monrovia that have not been noted in any Monrovia publications to date. I am very disappointed that the residents are not being made aware of this problem.I am very appreciative of the "reverse phone call" warnings to the residents of wildlife occurrences, i.e., mountain lions, bobcats, bears and coyote sightings. As a resident of the Grand Park vicinity, I believe all of our neighbors should be informed of any and all criminal activity in our area, as well as all Monrovia residents in all neighborhoods. I myself have been informed of recent burglaries on Prospect, Ridgeside, Encinitas, Madeline, Bradoaks, Oakcliff, and two near Hillcrest and Canyon (the latter within the last two weeks). Not only do I feel entitled to be made aware of these incidences, I feel it is a community responsibilty to keep the residents informed. I would personally like to organize a Neighborhood Watch for our area and encourage other areas to implement the same action. Coincidentally while I am writing this, three Monrovia Police cars just sped down Prospect towards Grand Park. They are down there right now at 11:15pm. One more thing to note for any residents in the Grand Park area, although I am not too close to Grand Park, after hearing from my neighbors about homeless people sleeping there at night and numerous juvenile occurrences after curfew, I would like to suggest some motion sensor lights and possibly a webcam in the park to discourage any inappropriate behavior in the park.Any other comments neighbors?
ReplyDeleteFor clarification, the headline is mine, but the story itself is from the City of Monrovia. - Brad
ReplyDeleteI was actually directing my comments to the City of Monrovia ... Sorry I should have made that clear...
ReplyDelete