Central Massachusetts Plagued By Spike of Burglaries

Monday, August 11, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

A recent spike of burglaries occurring throughout Central Massachusetts has local police on the lookout for what they believe may be a group of burglars.

While the crimes span a variety of different towns throughout Worcester County, a pattern has emerged, leading authorities to believe that the burglaries may be connected in some way.

“We had one evening where we had eight burglaries in the same neighborhood: four entries and four attempted entries” said Sargent Anthony Papandrea of the West Boylston Police Department. “I would say that they have been consistent with the pattern other cities have seen. The criminals generally enter the homes between 2am and 4 am and generally enter through unlocked doors; we haven’t seen any cases where they force their way in.”

According to a report from WHDH, more than 40 home break-ins have been reported in the towns of Auburn, Sutton, Millbury and West Boylston in the past month alone.

Enforcement Efforts

Police in the affected towns are currently working together in an attempt to share any possible leads about this recent string of burglaries; something that they believe has helped to create a few leads.

While the cities work together and ask neighborhoods to be vigilant and report any potential leads or strange situations, police are also asking citizens to make sure their windows and doors are locked; it is not believed at this time that this group will enter homes that must be forced into.

“We are recommending that everyone locks their windows and doors; this is a technique that seems to stop the burglars,” said Sargent Papandrea. “Typically when criminals are looking to break into a home, they are looking for the path of least resistance. We understand that we are in the hot summer months so closing and locking windows may seem a little difficult, but we believe that this is an effective way to curb this group.”

Finding the Trend

Bill McCarthy – a former Connecticut State Trooper and current criminal justice professor at Quinsigamond Community College – says that the best way to combat the recent string of burglaries in Central Massachusetts is for both residents and police to be extremely vigilant and to look for patterns and trends.

Because of the current patterns already emerging in these burglaries, McCarthy also believes that it is likely one group committing the crimes, most likely a mixture of amateurs and professionals.

In addition to the advise police are giving, McCarthy also recommends that if victims find that items are missing, then they check online websites like Craigslist and eBay to see if their stolen items emerge.

"If there is something taken then one of the best places to check would be either eBay or Craigslist," said McCarthy. "Criminals typically won't go into pawn shops because police typically work with pawn shop owners. The best place for criminals to sell things these days are these online websites, so it is best to check for missing items there."

Related Slideshow: Worcester’s Most Dangerous Neighborhoods

Neighborhood search website Neighborhood Scout indexed violent and property crimes data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations to determine the crime rates on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis in Worcester. The slides below show the overall crime index (a score of 100 is best) as well as the per capita crime rates broken down by violent and property crime. The data is sourced from 2011 figures, the most recent year available from the FBI. The online resource is created by Location, Inc., a Worcester-area company that bills itself as a leader of location-based data and risk analysis information.

Central Massachusetts Plagued By Spike of Burglaries

Related Slideshow: Worcester’s Most Dangerous Neighborhoods

38. Heard Street

Crime Index: 83 (100 is safest)

37. Main St / Goddard Memorial Dr

Crime Index: 73 (100 is safest)

36. Westchester / Assumption

Crime Index: 70 (100 is safest)

35 (tie). Mill St / Worcester State U

Crime Index: 67 (100 is safest)

35 (tie). Oakland Heights / Massasoit

Crime Index: 67 (100 is safest)

33 (tie). Jamesville / Ludlow

Crime Index: 65 (100 is safest)

33 (tie). Burncoat

Crime Index: 65 (100 is safest)

31. Chadwick Square

Crime Index: 61 (100 is safest)

30. Sunderland

Crime Index: 60 (100 is safest)

29. Webster Square

Crime Index: 59 (100 is safest)

28. Westwood Hills

Crime Index: 57 (100 is safest)

27. North Worcester / Summit

Crime Index: 55 (100 is safest)

26. Pleasant St.

Crime Index: 48 (100 is safest)

25 (tie). Greendale

Crime Index: 47 (100 is safest)

25 (tie). Bloomingdale

Crime Index: 47 (100 is safest)

23. Clark U / Main St

Crime Index: 46 (100 is safest)

22. Tatnuck / West Tatnuck

Crime Index: 45 (100 is safest)

21. Lakeview

Crime Index: 43 (100 is safest)

20. Holy Cross / College St

Crime Index: 39 (100 is safest)

19 (tie). Columbus Park

Crime Index: 37 (100 is safest)

19 (tie). Hamilton

Crime Index: 37 (100 is safest)

17. Brittan Square

Crime Index: 34 (100 is safest)

16. Pinecrest

Crime Index: 33 (100 is safest)

Violent Crimes per 1000 residents: 5.65

15 (tie). City Center

Crime Index: 29 (100 is safest)

Violent Crimes per 1000 residents: 16.8

15 (tie). South Worcester

Crime Index: 29 (100 is safest)

13. Beaver Brook

Crime Index: 28 (100 is safest)

12 (tie). Swan Avenue

Crime Index: 24 (100 is safest)

12 (tie). June Street

Crime Index: 24 (100 is safest)

10 (tie). University Park

Crime Index: 20 (100 is safest)

10 (tie). Quinsigamond Village / College Hill

Crime Index: 20 (100 is safest)

8 (tie). Umass Medical / Lake Ave N

Crime Index: 16 (100 is safest)

8 (tie). Water St / Grafton St

Crime Index: 16 (100 is safest)

6 (tie). Beverly Road

Crime Index: 15 (100 is safest)

6 (tie). WPI / Highland St

Crime Index: 15 (100 is safest)

4. Oak Hill

Crime Index: 13 (100 is safest)

3. Belmont Hill / Shrewsbury St

Crime Index: 8 (100 is safest)

2. Chandler Hill

Crime Index: 6 (100 is safest)

1. Great Brook Valley

Crime Index: 4 (100 is safest)