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If no owner can be found, recovered stolen goods stay locked up at the police station. Photos by Sarah Bennett.

A surge in daytime residential burglaries in the first quarter of 2013 has led the Long Beach Police Department to seek the public’s help in curtailing the increasing number of property crimes.

There were 711 reported residential burglaries in the first three months of 2013, a 35.4% increase this quarter compared to the 525 same time last year. During the same period in 2013, police also arrested 63 adults and 21 juveniles on suspicion on burglary.

“Our numbers are up,” said LBPD spokesperson Sgt. Aaron Eaton. “In other cities in the region, these numbers are up…We need to be vigilant as a community in calling police when we see something that looks suspicious.”

Police say that most of the crimes are occuring on quiet, cul-de-sac-type residential streets in all corners of the city between the hours of 8AM and 5PM, when residents are most likely to be at work or running errands. Suspectsuse a tactic where they knock on doors to try and illicit response from someone in the house and if no one answers, they check the doors and force entry, often through a back or side door. 

According to police, subjects are less likely to victimize homes that have surveillance cameras, multiple pets in the yard, active neighbors and alarm systems. Homes with back houses, on the other hand, are often targeted since there is likely to be an unlocked entrance of some sort.

Sgt. Robert Woods says that there are no “crime rings” necessarily contributing to the increase, but that word of the easiness of burglarizing in this fashion is spreading fast. 

“The tactics are so well known on the streets that some theives are just jumping on the bandwagon,”Woods said. Groups that may hang out together in an informal sense, he mentioned, might share new methods to get into houses. This in turn creates a revolving-door of sorts: even though arrests are made on one end, another group of theives may have already sprouted indirectly.

Many of the items stolen from homes are sold quickly on the streets–such as jewelery or musical instruments–and therefore do not show up on websites like eBay or Craigslist. More serious items–such as money or documents that can help someone steal one’s identity–are also being taken, prompting police to believe that many theives are drug abusers that are selling the items or using them to pay for their habit.

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Thankfully, Wood’s team has arrested 84 people they suspect are responsible for Long Beach burglaries, many of whom were caught by observant neighbors who call police. 

“Oftentimes, it’s patrol officers just getting there in time,” Woods said. “Other times, we seize stolen property and can track it back to certain burglaries and then, in some cases, locating specific suspects.”

One of those includes the arrest of 23-year-old Alisha Tapia and 28-year-old Chhin Phon, residents of Long Beach who were discovered at a Signal Hill motel in February. Both were already on probation–Tapia for burglary and Phon for a weapons violation–on top of their already extensive criminal records. Nine counts of burglary have been filed against Tapia while two counts have been filed againt Phon.

Another case includes the March 14 arrest of 18-year-old Compton resident Tievon Harmon after a neighbor called the police citing suspicious behavior; he was seen by police later evacuating the home reported by the caller. 

“It’s a strikeable offense,” continued Woods, “so we want to be able to capture these people and get them off the streets.”

Because so many of those arrested were juveniles, police reminded parents to make sure children under 18 are not violating curfew and for residents to report any loitering or suspicious behavior immediately. They also remind everyone to take down the serial numbers of their large items in addition to familiarizing one’s self with their own property in case it is ever stolen. Woods suggested that homeowners not only take notice of what is in each room of their home, but also take pictures so that there is photographic evidence of ownership of items which are not serialized.

The LBPD keeps all recovered items that have not yet been associated with a particlar burglary. The stash includes an array of items ranging from shower heads to golf clubs to religious figurines.

Sarah Bennett contributed to this report.