LIVERPOOL, ONONDAGA COUNTY -- This week’s Crime Tracker report digs into the number of home burglaries the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department responds to in a month. In March they were 74 burglary calls across the county. That does not include the City of Syracuse or the towns and villages that have their own police departments. With that relatively large number in mind the spring time weather usually brings a spike in the number of burglaries across the county.
We went out on road patrol with Sergeant Rich McCarron of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department to get some perspective on how burglars view the vulnerabilities of a home. McCarron said, “they want to get what they can as quickly or they can they want a home that will provide the lowest likelihood of getting caught.”
When driving through a suburban Liverpool neighborhood McCarron pointed to a home with a well manicured lawn and neat shrubbery that had grown enough to conceal windows of the home. McCarron told us, “this is a burglar's dream. Nice house nice community. Well landscaped, but for a burglar it presents a lot of opportunity to get into the house.”
McCarron shared three key tips to protect your home. Lock your doors, close your windows and make sure you have lighting on all sides of your home. Motion detector lights work best because, “if somebody does come up to your house that's not supposed to be there. Then another light goes off it alerts you, or if you're not home it lets your neighbors know.”
If you would like to tell us about crimes happening in your town or neighborhood you can contact us through Crimetracker@wstm.com. Each week we will update you on a range of crimes happening in our community and give you advice on how you can keep from being a victim.
