By Eric Eisenberg
BRIGHTON –Police report a sharp decrease in burglaries in the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton in the early months of 2008.
A police report on March 4 listed 35 burglaries or attempted burglaries in the two neighborhoods for the first two months of the year, a 67 percent drop from the same period last year.
In 2007, there were 40 percent fewer burglaries than in 2006, when there were 697 reported cases. Only three percent fewer burglaries were committed between 2006 and 2005, police said.
Sgt. William Fogerty, of the D-14 community service desk, said the crime drop can be attributed to the number of burglars arrested in 2007.
“You take them off the street… the court holds them on a high bail, and they don’t go to trial for two to three months,” Fogerty said. “You’re talking 30, 40, maybe 60 burglaries that don’t take place.”
The increased number of arrests can be attributed to changing police strategies such as greater alertness concerning people who have been previously convicted. Photos of people who have been released from prison are distributed to officers patrolling the area.
The police department has also begun interrogating people they find to be suspicious and ask for identification, said Officer Frank Hughes.
There is also is the large student population of Allston. After a large spike in burglaries around the holidays in 2005 and 2006, Fogerty said, police have begun to concentrate in those areas, such as Linden St., Pratt St. and Brighton Ave., just to prevent them.
“The people that break into houses, they know the schedule of the students,” Fogerty said. “BC’s out this week so we have extra unmarked anti-crime units in the area, and we’ll do the same thing next week when BU students go.”
Police say the trend can change quickly.
“It’s a cyclical thing in my opinion,” Fogerty said. “It’s like the weather: it changes on a regular basis. What works, what doesn’t work, it’s why we’re always changing strategies to address the concerns. It’s just one of those things that happens.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved