Crime Prevention Alert – Shed Break-Ins and Larcenies

CITY OF DURHAM
Office of Public Affairs
101 City Hall Plaza
Durham, NC 27701

News Release
For Immediate Release: August 29, 2007

The Durham Police Department is issuing a crime prevention alert about a recent wave of break-ins to sheds. This has been coupled with an increase in the number of thefts of bicycles, lawn mowers and other items from yards throughout the city. The majority of shed break-ins have occurred during daylight hours when people are at work.
The Police Department is providing the following crime prevention tips:

· Check the latching device on your shed. Most sheds have small screws holding the latching device onto the shed frame. These small screws should be replaced with longer, approximately one-inch screws or bolts. Latches secured with the smaller screws are easily broken off enabling burglars to defeat any type lock

· Always lock the shed with a heavy-duty lock

· Run a heavy-duty chain through items in the shed, especially bikes, lawn equipment and other large tools. This allows you to lock the items together making it tougher for burglars to quickly remove items

· Engrave all valuable property that is stored in your shed with your driver's license number. The Police Department has engraving equipment at its substations for use by the public

· Record all model and serial numbers of property stored in the shed. This helps officers identify the property if it is recovered after a theft

· Install a motion detector floodlight on your house or shed

Never leave tools or ladders lying around as the thief can easily use them.

Planting shrubs, especially the prickly kind, in suitable positions around a shed can also be a good deterrent to the thief

Don’t leave toys, tools and equipment in the yard

Call 911 to report any suspicious persons or activity

Neigborhood News

Here are as few neighborhood news items that I was interested in and thought you may want an update on:

Street Maintenance...That old pothole at Grande Park entrance at Umstead. As I am sure you have noticed, that disturbing 'pothole' at the entrance of Grande Park at Umstead has been repaved by the City. After much prodding by the Board and the Management Company, the City determined that there was a problem with the underground sewer line. The necessary repairs were made by the City and the street was repaved… finally! We will keep a close eye on the patch work… just in case.

Welcome new residents! There was a flurry of houses on the Market this spring, and as a result we have 9 new residents that have moved into our community since April! Welcome new neighbors! If you haven’t already received one, your new resident welcome packet will be delivered soon to you!

Landscapers. As of this spring, we have a new landscaping company, Newton Landscaping
. They have been able to make the repairs to the sprinkler system at the entrance and keep the common areas mowed. Recently, new annuals were planted at the entrance sign and the playground area was mulched with certified playground mulch!
Please go check it out!

National Night Out .... a Success

Thanks to all the residents that braved the heat and came out to participate in Grande Park's National Night Out! We had about 30 neighbors stop by for refreshmnets and to meet other neighbors. The playground was heavily used by the many kids that came too! We were able to get the word out about our neighborhood watch program and the Telephone Tree!

If you still haven't been contacted by your Block Captain, please feel free to contact them. I have listed all the block captains names and phone numbers at the bottom right of this web site. If you don't know who your block captain is, please call any one of the Board members and they can tell you your Captain is!