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Burglaries on rise in Harford, statistics, police confirm

Several Harford County communities are suffering an increase in burglaries, an officer with the Harford County Sheriff's Office told members of the Bush River Community Council earlier this week.

"We're not really sure why we're seeing an increase," Lt. Hugh John Dougherty said. "We're guessing some of the people we've arrested are drug abusers, which is normal, which is natural…They're breaking in and taking prescription medication. We're not seeing that it's a majority organized burglaries. Occasionally we get these spurts where someone's breaking into 15, 20 houses to support their habit."

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At the community council's meeting Monday evening, Dougherty said the entire area east of Bush River has experienced a spike in burglaries.

Sector 28, which extends into Belcamp and part of Aberdeen, had six burglaries in the past month, although the total for all of 2011 was 11 burglaries, he said.

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But the increase isn't limited to just the Belcamp, Aberdeen and Bush River areas, he said.

"With the burglaries, we have seen a spike throughout the entire county. We have made several arrests on those," Dougherty said, adding the burglaries extend from Norrisville to Havre de Grace and Edgewood.

"All the communities are pretty much dealing with an increase in burglaries," he said. "Most are occurring during the daytime."

A week earlier, the sheriff's office reported a string of break-ins in the Fallston area, all of which appear to be related. As of last week, there had been five burglaries in three Fallston neighborhoods, two on Feb. 1 on Copperwood Way, two on Feb. 7 on Brandon Hunt Lane and one on Feb. 10 in the 2900 block of Moores Road.

Most of the burglaries occurred during the daytime hours and through the rear entrances of the homes, according to Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Monica Worrell. In those particular incidents, anyone with additional information is encouraged to call Det. John Aksomitus, 410-836-5427.

Worrell also confirmed Thursday that statistics indicate burglaries are on the rise in Harford County, compared to this time last year.

For example, she said there were a dozen burglaries reported in the northern end of the county at this time last year. As of Feb. 17, 30 burglaries had been reported in the same area, according to Worrell.

The same goes for the southern end of the county, which had 35 burglaries this time last year and, as of Feb. 17, had reported approximately 58, Worrell added.

"We are focusing and asking the community to remember crime prevention tips," she said.

These tips include locking car doors, house doors and closing the garage door.

In many cases, the burglaries have been what Worrell called "crimes of opportunity."

"People will go into what's easy," she said, "and an unlocked door is easy to enter."

At the Bush River meeting earlier this week, Dougherty asked anyone who sees a suspicious vehicle to call police right away.

"We'd rather come out and see it's a plumber working on the plumbing or a relative working on the house," he said.

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