August 7, 2005

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A lawnmower was stolen from a backyard on Parkmont this weekend. There must have been a least a pair of thieves because in order to retrieve the lawnmower, an eight-foot fence had to be scaled and the lawnmower had to be lifted back over the fence.
There seems to be a pattern of people roaming the neighborhood looking for things to steal, particularly lawnmowers. This particular machine was visible only by looking through the cracks in the security fence in the alley. It was not an easy target.
Please call 911 if you see anything suspicious.

August 3, 2005

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A house in the 5700 block of Victor was broken into on Monday, August 1. This same house has been broken into on the average of twice a month for the past year. The operational mode is always the same: a window is smashed and the burglar enters, usually during the daytime when the resident is at work. The house does have an alarm but the thief is quick and leaves before the police come or, on some occasions, has pulled the wires out and disconnected the alarm. The burglar may or may not live in the area but it appears that the resident’s movements are being watched because the house is vandalized when the resident is away.

The police have been able to get fingerprints several times and have been able to attach a name to the fingerprints. The suspect is a Hispanic male who has been released from prison in another state, where he was serving time for burglary. At the present time it is not know whether all of the burglaries at this location can be attributed to this suspect but it is likely that most, if not all, can be.

Incidents like this affect the quality of urban life for us all. There is no reason for Dallas to continue to have one of the highest crime rates in the nation. If New York can do it, we can do too. New York has been able to successfully bring down their crime so that now, statistically speaking, it is safer on the streets of New York than it is in Dallas.

We have a committed police chief and patrol officers in Dallas. They are working hard on the problem (they know the name of this suspect and are currently looking him) but they will need our help. If you see anything that looks out of the ordinary, call 911. You will get a quicker response if you report a “suspicious person” rather than a generic description.

If you see persistent patterns of suspicious activity, call Sergeant Gonzalez at 214-670-4413. He is very helpful. We have been able to get rid of two major drug houses in Junius Heights this year because of alert citizens. The tips can be made anonymously. Most of the burglaries in this area are caused by thieves stealing, and then pawning the stolen goods, to support their drug habits.

Get to know your neighbors so that you will know if and when somebody out of the ordinary is in your neighbor’s back yard. A phone tree on the block listing everybody’s home and work number is a good way to communicate should an emergency arise.