Østjylland Police burglary increase and appeal for public help, Digi Mart USA News (Østjylland, Denmark): Østjylland Police have received several reports of burglaries in private homes and are now asking residents to help curb the problem. On Friday evening, a resident in Aarhus N called police after spotting a lit flashlight in a neighbor’s apartment, and a patrol later arrested a suspected burglar.
Police say calls like this can make a decisive difference, as the district is seeing an increase in burglaries. From January 1 through October 31 this year, police received 1,811 reports of burglaries in private homes, compared with 1,563 in the same period last year.
Burglaries have continued into November, and the district remains under pressure.
“We simply have many more burglaries than we have seen before,” said investigation leader Flemming Nørgaard of Østjylland Police. The increase is especially pronounced in Aarhus Municipality, where reports rose from 956 to 1,239, an increase of 283 compared with the same period last year.
Police believe that both local people and people from outside the area are behind the burglaries. To target their efforts, police are analyzing where break-ins occur and how thieves gain entry.
Patrols receive ongoing information about areas with many burglaries and about persons suspected of involvement.
Nørgaard stressed, however, that patrols alone are not enough. “We cannot be eyes and ears across the entire district,” he said.
Police are therefore asking residents to report anything that seems wrong in their neighborhood, such as people moving around a home where they do not appear to belong.
“We have seen over the recent period that where we have success, it is where residents contact us and say something is wrong,” Nørgaard said. He emphasized that residents should not attempt to intervene or detain anyone.
Instead, they should act as eyes on the ground and report observations to the police control center.
Police also recommend that residents agree with neighbors to watch over each other’s homes, keep good lighting around the property so burglars find it harder to work unseen, and make homes appear occupied, for example by using timer switches and leaving dishes in the sink. Residents should call 114 if they see suspicious persons or vehicles in the neighborhood, and 112 if they witness a burglary in progress.
