Last week a resident reported that two men banged on their door around 1:30 p.m. When the resident didn’t answer, the thieves came around the side of the house and broke a glass door to gain entry to the house. The resident was home and called out, thinking it might be a family member, then ran downstairs. Seeing the broken glass, they started screaming for help, likely scaring off the thieves. Nothing was taken and the resident doesn’t believe anyone actually entered the home. LAPD responded 20 minutes later.
“We are seeing an uptick in residential burglaries, weird behavior, and suspicious activity in the neighborhood west of Larchmont Blvd.,” Lucerne Arden United neighborhood organizer Sam Uretsky told the Buzz.
Uretsky said Lucerne Arden United residents are working together to share information so people are more informed about how thieves are targeting the neighborhood. They also shared several residential camera videos from last week’s attempted break-in with us to help educate residents in surrounding neighborhoods. We combined the videos into one.
“These videos are a clear composite of how these robberies are staged,” said Uretsky. “This is a textbook case of how the home break in occurs. The video captures step by step what happens.
Below are screenshots from the video illustrating the sequence of events.
“We have seen cars driving slowly up and down the street, casing out the homes on our blocks; we have reports of individuals peering in windows, ringing doorbells in the early evening to see if someone is home, then coming back later at night to check again; residents are very concerned,” said Uretsky. There have also been reports of individuals sitting in cars for extending periods, sorting drugs.
Working together and sharing information, residents have also reported their sightings to LAPD, which has been responsive when it can, since these are not high priority reports, explained Uretsky. LAPD officers have also recently started walking the neighborhood with residents to increase communication and a sense of community.
Neighborhood leaders believe that educating neighbors is essential, but it doesn’t prevent criminals from preying on the neighborhood. Now they are brainstorming about possible solutions to deter criminals. They are looking at posting neighborhood watch signs on street, signs advertising private security patrol signs in front yards, and signs about cameras surveilling the neighborhood.
