Burglars in Howard County are getting more serious about their work, and so is Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino.

Broccolino formed a new burglary unit in May to deal with an uptick in organized, serial burglaries. Police believe that at least half of the burglaries in Howard County last year were perpetrated by a very small pool of professional thieves.

Whereas burglary cases were once assigned to a large pool of general assignment prosecutors, they now go to one of two veteran trial lawyers. The unit allows prosecutors to become immersed in a case's details early on, which gives detectives the benefit of knowing just what evidence they'll need to bring a suspect to trial.

"I think we can do a better job in handling burglary cases," Broccolino said. "It's good to have people focused on burglaries so they can see the full extent of the problem."

The new unit gives prosecutors the focus necessary to successfully link one person to a large series of burglaries where evidence is somewhat elusive, rather than linking the person to just one or two burglaries were evidence is more obvious.

"It's difficult to prove that someone is responsible for all the ones we think they are responsible for," said Cpt. Glenn Hansen, commander of the Howard County Police Department's Criminal Investigations Bureau. "We have one person who might be responsible for 15, 16,17 burglaries, but we can only charge for one or two."

With prosecutors involved early on, they can help police surmise how much more evidence is needed to "tie them together with all the cases," Hansen said.

Howard County Assistant State's Attorney Todd Taylor said that since he's become a member of the unit, he's kept abreast of new forensic techniques for solving burglaries and case law relevant to burglaries.

The specialized knowledge has already come in handy with a recent smash-and-grab case, in which Taylor was able to suggest that police test a suspect's clothing for small, microscopic shards of glass that would have resulted from breaking a glass window. No arrests have been made in the smash-and-grab, Taylor said.

"The communication is fantastic," Taylor said. "The cases are always in a constant state of being updated, where in a normal case that doesn't always happen."

In 2010, there were 483 burglaries in Howard County, up from 423 in 2009. However, 179 of last year's burglaries resulted from three incidents at three storage facilities, where individual units were burglarized. Police identified suspects in two of the burglaries as two groups who are believed to be responsible for similar burglaries in nearby jurisdictions, and made arrests.

Hansen said that serial burglars have hit Howard County more in recent years than any other time in recent memory.

"What we are finding is more sophisticated burglaries and more series of burglaries being committed by single individuals or groups, and that's where our cooperation with the State's Attorney's office is going to pay off in the long run," Hansen said.

If prosecutors can gain an indictment or conviction on every burglary a perpetrator is charged with, they can likely get a judge to agree to higher sentences, Broccolino explained.

For example, prosecutors were able to present enough evidence to an August 2010 grand jury to indict serial burglar Charles Kurtinitis, of Columbia, for 10 burglaries. Kurtinitis and his brother, Kevin, were also charged with several burglaries in Anne Arundel County. The two were arrested in May 2010.

The large number of indictments eventually led Charles Kurtinitis to agree to a plea deal in which he admitted guilt to four of the burglaries and was given an 18-year prison term.

Hansen said that serial burglars often revert to burglary again after leaving prison.

Ernest Wesley Ballard was indicted on Aug. 3 for first-, third- and fourth-degree burglary of a residence near his Columbia neighborhood. Ballard was arrested and charged with burglary on July 15, just three months after his April 21 release from prison on a separate burglary conviction.

Taylor said Ballard is suspected in more than one burglary.

"While police are investigating one, of course he's allegedly in the house across the way committing the other burglary," Taylor said.

Taylor said that Ballard's chutzpah is not uncommon.

"A serial criminal … has a certain zone of safety, which is usually where they live because they know the area," Taylor added..

Broccolino said the new unit, which will push hard for stiffer sentences for burglars, is intended to eliminate any sense of comfort a burglar might feel in Howard County.

"Residential burglaries ... violate a person's sense of security and well-being," Broccolino said. "We're taking the welcome sign out for burglars: We don't want you in Howard County. You're going to be dealt with severely."