1999 Annual Report

Burglary

Burglary describes the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. The use of force to gain entry is not required to classify an offense as burglary. Burglary attempts are included in the total.

Burglary is considered a much graver crime than larceny, since it usually involves breaking into someone’s home or business. Great diversity exists within the ranks of burglars: a great many are “crude,” unrefined thieves who, with little finesse, will smash a window and enter an unoccupied house or building. Because long-term success at burglary involves innovation, risk, and proficiency, the crime is often associated with “professional,” master thieves who disable alarm systems and steal oil paintings and oriental rugs.

The latter type of burglar—the professional thief who used to commit 200 to 300 housebreaks per year, many in wealthy residential locations—has become a dinosaur. He has been put out of business by priority prosecution programs, patrol and investigative strategies, and early detection of patterns. The demise of this “one-man crime wave” has caused burglary to plunge 76 percent since 1980 and 61 percent since 1990. The 1999 total is the lowest burglary statistic the Cambridge Police Department has reported since we started measuring crime in the 1960s.

 Burglaries in Cambridge are evenly spread throughout the day, with more business breaks occurring at night and on weekends, and more residential breaks occurring during the workday. Seldom does a resident or business owner encounter a burglar, and only very rarely (except in the case of domestic burglaries) does a resident come to harm during a burglary.

For the purpose of analysis, the crime of burglary is divided into two categories: Commercial Burglary and Residential Burglary (“housebreaks”). Commercial breaks showed a 20 percent decrease in 1999, while housebreaks decreased 18 percent.

Commercial burglary, or commercial breaks, describes the burglary of a business, government, or retail establishment. This crime has experienced decreases over the past 10 years, but not as dramatically as residential burglary.

Commercial burglars target a miscellany of establishments. The type of business targeted speaks volumes about the offender’s likely status and style, and commercial breaks can therefore be categorized by the type of premises entered. Most breaks fall into one of six broad categories:

·          Smash & Grab burglaries target display windows along major routes. The burglar runs or drives up, smashes the window, steals valuables from the immediate area of the window, and runs off. The entire enterprise may take less than a minute. A smash & grab burglar ravaged Harvard Square in January and February, striking jewelry and clothing stores.

·          Retail burglars pry or smash their way into stores, hair salons, restaurants, and other locations with cash registers on the premises. They’re hoping for cash left in the register or the safe. They may grab some cigarettes or a stack of lottery tickets on the way out. Retail burglars who target restaurants specifically often cross multiple jurisdictions, breaking into similar franchises, looking for safes. Increased retail burglaries—including two patterns—made up the Central Square district’s increase in 1999, and a brief hair & beauty salon pattern struck East Cambridge in February.

·          Business burglars enter real estate offices, law firms, technology companies, and other offices, looking for laptop computers and other expensive equipment. Businesses from 921–925 Mass. Ave. were hit several times in February; losing computers, printers, fax machines and telephones.

·          Construction Site thieves are a special breed of burglars who know how to select, steal, and sell expensive power tools, building supplies, and heavy equipment. They are often in the business themselves, and may have done some sub-contract work on the site that they target. Cambridgeport suffered a series of construction site breaks from January to March.

·          Church burglars are usually homeless individuals with substance abuse problems. They enter lightly-secured houses of worship, looking for petty cash and easily fenced items. One church on Beech Street in North Cambridge was hit twice in 1999 and four times in 1998.

·          School burglars are generally juveniles, breaking into their own schools to vandalize or to steal computers and other expensive goods that they see every day.

Jewelry store breaks and laundromat breaks were lumped together with the other “retail” burglaries until 1999, when we felt that increasing numbers warranted separate categories.

Four of the jewelry store burglaries in 1999 occurred at the same watch shop on Church Street, and three of these were part of a January & February “smash & grab” pattern in Harvard Square, in which the burglar repeatedly returned to the same locations. The suspect was eventually arrested.

Laundromat breaks became a concern in December, when a pattern hit the Boston area. Three breaks occurred in Cambridge, and over a dozen others were reported in towns between Stoneham and Attleboro. Burglars entered self-service laundromats in the dead of night and smashed their way into offices, cash boxes, change machines, and telephone calling card machines.

Geography

The Porter Square/North Cambridge business district generally accounts for 25% of the total commercial burglaries in the city. In 1999, however, this district only made up 14%. Patterns of commercial breaks have struck the 1900–2500 blocks of Massachusetts Avenue almost every year prior to 1999. The absence of any such pattern in 1999 led to a 56% decrease in this neighborhood.

A heavy decrease of 59% came from the Alewife/West Cambridge district, which traditionally shows multiple breaks along Concord Avenue and Huron Avenue.

Geographic Breakdown of Commercial Burglaries

The biggest increase came in the Central Square district. Some of the Harvard Square winter “smash & grab” pattern spilled into Central Square and, in fact, the burglar was arrested in the latter district. A second pattern—involving a man forcing his way through the rear doors of retail establishments—hit the district between May and July. The suspect was eventually arrested breaking into a lobster market on Putnam Avenue.

Commercial Burglaries in 1999

Day and Time

Commercial burglaries, naturally, are a nighttime phenomenon, occurring between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. The most frequent four-hour time block is between midnight and 4:00 a.m. Very often, the day the burglary occurred is unknown—especially if it happened over the weekend, which is most common (57%). Thursday is also popular, with 13% of the total commercial burglaries.

Offenders

The Cambridge Police Department arrested 130people for commercial burglary in 1999—all men—ranging in age from 17 to 45, with a average age of 33. Five were from Cambridge (two from Cambridgeport, one from West Cambridge, one from the Peabody neighborhood, and one from Inman/Harrington), and three were from Boston.

Seasonal Variations

As with many crimes, we do not see many predictable seasonal patterns in commercial breaks. We usually see at least one summertime spike and, for some reason, November has been unusually high for the past two years.

Residential burglaries, or “housebreaks,” decreased 18 percent between 1998 and 1999, from 487 incidents to 400. 1999’s total is the lowest reported in over 30 years, representing a decrease of 58% over the past decade.

Housebreaks has been affected greatly by the demise of the “professional burglar.” The traditional summertime burglary pattern, which was once responsible for 200 to 300 breaks a year, has largely disappeared.

Geography

Housebreaks by Neighborhood