Message from Commander Cliff Saylor of APD - Burglary ARRESTS Made Over Past Week, Value of Neighborhood Watch Program

Below information from Cliff Saylor, Commander of the Foothills Area Commmand, Albuquerque Police Department

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Dear Neighbors,

I would like to tell you of a couple burglary arrests made over the past week. We have seen a rash of residential burglaries occurring between 1200 and 1400 hours, Tuesday-Thursday. In the majority of cases, the front door or side door was breached. In two separate cases, alert witnesses were able to provide responding officers with information that led to the identification and arrest of the suspects.

Wednesday, October 5th- A gentleman saw a burglar pry open the front door of his neighbor's home. He immediately called 911. He provided the 911 call taker with valuable information on the offender, the offender's vehicle, and the license plate. Patrol Officers responded to the victim's house. Foothills IMPACT Detectives, hearing the call, conducted investigation and surveillance on the vehicle. Within 40 minutes of the original 911 telephone call the offender was arrested and the stolen property was returned to the owner.

Thursday, October 6th- A homeowner returned home to see the front door to his home forced open. He also saw the offender driving away with his property protruding from the vehicle. He immediately called 911 and gave the offender descriptions. Officers flooded the area, but the burglars were able to escape...for the day. FOOTHILLS IMPACT Detectives spoke to the homeowner and gave them some information with which to follow up on. The homeowner found his stolen property being advertised for sale on the internet. Detectives conducted an undercover operation and were able to arrest the offenders and link them to several residential burglaries in the Foothills Area Command.

I bring this to your attention in hopes of spreading the word that the Neighborhood Watch Program is the best protection and crime fighting tool we have, dollar for dollar! Neighbors looking out for one another is the best resource the Albuquerque Police Department has in its arsenal of crime fighting tools. APD does have CSI (crime scene investigators) and Detectives that follow up, but neighbors giving us suspect descriptions, vehicle descriptions, license plates, being visible in the community, and calling in suspicious activity is a leading means of capturing burglars in the act, or shortly there after.

I want to remind all Neighborhood Associations that The FOOTHILLS Area Command has a new Crime Prevention Specialist. Jill Garcia has recently joined the team and is working hard to get crime prevention and crime fighting tools into your hands. We want to dramatically increase the number of Neighborhood Watches in the community. We want to make the Foothills an unfriendly place for burglars. Please invite us to your next Neighborhood Association meeting, block party, organized civic function, or birthday party (kidding... unless there is cake and ice cream) so that we may spread the word about crime prevention.

Please stay safe,

Cliff Saylor, Commander
Albuquerque Police Department
Foothills Area Command
12800 Lomas Bd. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87112
(505) 332-5240