Warm weather prompts police warning about crimes of opportunity

Media Advisory: Sergeant Doug Crippen of the Calgary Police Service's Break and Enter team will be available to speak with media today, Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 10 a.m.

This availability will occur at CPS Headquarters, Westwinds Campus Media Centre, 5111 47 Street S.E.

Please minimize the number of representatives from each organization so that we may adhere to the physical distancing guidelines.

With hot summer weather forecasted into next week, we are reminding citizens that warm weather can present opportunities for property crime, like break and enters.

While the past few months of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a general decrease in daytime break and enters throughout the city, Calgary Police are warning citizens of an uptick in nighttime residential break and enters specifically.

“We’re seeing an increase in residential break and enters with detached garages, which are typically a nighttime occurrence,” says Doug Crippen, Sergeant of the Centralized Break and Enter Unit of the Calgary Police Service. “Property crime, including break and enters, car prowlings and auto thefts, continues to affect citizens across the city. In many cases, simply locking up and taking the opportunity away from offenders is enough to stop the crime.”

Generally speaking, over the summer months, residential break and enters typically increase by 20 per cent. More specifically, since March 2020, we have seen a change from daytime break and enters to nighttime incidents.

Now that some pandemic restrictions have been relaxed, investigators are seeing a recent increase from May to June, with approximately 150 reported nighttime break and enters into detached garages to just over 200 incidents, respectively.

We’re asking citizens to be mindful of securing their homes, business properties, vehicles, garages and other belongings every night before going to bed to minimize these crimes of opportunity.

The Calgary Police Service is encouraging Calgarians to continue practicing the 9 p.m. Routine, adopted by CPS in 2018 from a campaign that began in Pasco County, Florida, to help citizens secure their property before heading to bed.

The routine is now used by police agencies across North America to remind citizens to protect themselves and their property.

The routine is simple, every night before going to bed we want all citizens to get in the habit of double checking that their vehicles, property and residence are secure. Offenders will often go down a street checking vehicles and houses for doors left open. By simply locking your door you could avoid waking up to an intruder in your home.

The routine recommends:

• Removing valuables from vehicles.
• Ensuring vehicles are locked, windows are closed and if possible, parked in a garage.
• Closing garage doors and windows.
• Locking any person-doors in the garage, including those leading into a house.
• Checking that all house doors – front, back, side and garage – are locked.
• Ensuring all windows are shut.
• Turning on an exterior light.

A 9 p.m. Routine checklist has been attached to this release.