BURLINGTON,VT – Burlington Police are touting a noticeable decrease in the number of burglaries over the past few years.
According to their report, from 2018-2019 burglaries were down 30% in Burlington. Since 2012 they were down 73%.
The University Hill section of Burlington went down by more than half. Police believe the University Hill section is most commonly effected by burglaries. They feel this may be due to the fact that college students live in the area and tend to go away on long breaks, which makes them easy targets.
Deputy Chief Jon Murad said burglary is an invasive crime and the Burlington Police Department does all they can to prevent them from happening.
“It’s all about rapid response. When we know of a burglary or when one is reported. It’s about effective tactics upon hearing about it. It’s about the follow through and the relentless follow through,” said Murad.
The majority of burglaries that occur in Burlington are committed by a small number of the same people.
“Being able to stay on top of individuals who commit these crimes and be aware of seeing patterns of crime, modus operandi that are repeated and really effectively looking for individuals who are alleged or suspected or sometimes proven recidivists is an important part,” said Murad.
Jeff Lawson is the Vice President of Tourism and Marketing for the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, he believed this data will help bring more people to the area.
“A lot of people take that into consideration when they’re choosing a place to take themselves or their families,” said Lawson.
Lawson explained that for businesses that plan to have events in certain cities, one of the top three things they look at is safety.
“Being able to promote the fact that the city is thirty percent safer is only going to be beneficial for us, “said Lawson.
Police say to make sure you lock your doors and cars when you are going away, and if you have someone coming in to feed your pets or anything like that to tell your neighbors.
“Those kinds of neighborhood connections stronger connections amongst all of us make all of us stronger and all of us safer,” said Murad.