In the first quarter of this year, property crime-related incidents in St. Thomas decreased.
That has to be tempered by increases in residential and commercial break and enters.
The stats are contained in a property crime analysis covering January through March of this year, prepared by the St. Thomas Police Service.
It shows property crime-related incidents decreased from 116 in the same period last year to 100 this year, a drop of 13.8 per cent.
However, residential break and enters are up from 22 to 46 this year (109 per cent), and commercial break and enters increased slightly to 22 from 20 (10 per cent) a year ago.
Vehicle entries declined from 74 in the first quarter last year to 32 this year, a 56.7 per cent drop.
The report concludes nearly half of the reported property crimes were due to insecure access points.
It goes on to note “if more effort was put into securing these access points, property crime could be reduced by 44 per cent.
And a nightly routine is suggested:
- lock your vehicle and bring valuables inside
- put the bike away
- lock the shed/garage
- lock the residence door
- leave motion sensor lights on
Written by Ian McCallum
