Police: Recent Burglary Spree Is Opportunistic

A rash of opportunistic burglaries in the past two months has the detectives in the First Precinct of the Suffolk County Police Department investigating incidents in Lindenhurst.

Specifically, North Lindenhurst, according to according to Inspector Gerard Gigante, the Precinct's commanding officer, who spoke with Patch on Monday.

This into which the First Precinct is looking also includes similar burglaries in Deer Park, West Babylon and North Babylon.

The spree has the Precinct on watch, and prompted police to warn residents this past weekend.

Burglary Breakdown
Gigante said these burglaries involve a suspect and/or suspects entering homes via unlocked windows or doors, and they've been happening for a couple of months now.

"It's not uncommon for this time of year to get this type of burglary because windows are open and doors are left unlocked - especially if they don't have air conditioning," he said.

"We recommend residents lock windows and doors, and look at making sure their property has some sort of lighting," he advised, adding residents shouldn't keep valuables near windows or doors.

"The stuff being grabbed in these burglaries are electronics, pocketbooks, etc. - items that are easily taken if they're near an open window or door. So residents shouldn't keep things like their laptops out in the open near windows where they're also more visible, and pull shades down," the inspector noted.

Gigante further advised residents to immediately call the police (911) if they find themselves victims of one of these burglaries, and to not touch anything that the suspect and/or suspects might've touched.

The same advice applies if residents should be awakened by a suspect and/or suspects burglarizing their homes - as has already happened in some cases, according to the  the SCPD put out this past weekend.

According to the police explaining the investigation, most instances happened while residents were asleep. But on a few occasions, the SCPD said, residents awoke, and the suspect and/or suspects fled.

"[If that should happen, then] be sure not to engage the person or persons, and call 911 immediately instead - perhaps making note of which way they fled outside, if they got into a car or not," Gigante added.

The inspector couldn't speak specifically why these burglaries are happening, but, he said, "generally speaking they usually need money."

In Relation
When asked whether or not these are related to the spate in burglaries in North Lindy that and have continued to be investigated, Gigante said no, they're not.

"Those involved a couple of attempts, and the ones that happened involved break-ins. These burglaries have seen no doors kicked in or windows broken. They're looking for unlocked doors and windows," the inspector said.

These burglaries are also unrelated to a several recently reported car break-ins.

"In those people generally look for unlocked doors, and it's not a bigger problem now than it has been. It's something that does happen frequently throughout the year," Gigante said.

With regard to this newest batch of burglaries, the inspector assured, "These burglaries are all under investigation, and First Squad detectives are pursuing all leads."

The inspector also reiterated that anyone with information should call the First Precinct at 631-854-8135, or anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

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