Our goal is to partner with the community to make Altadena a safer community to live and work. We strongly believe that communication is key to achieving that goal. We will make every effort to release as much information on our activity as possible. We will release information on arrests and investigations, unless the information would affect an ongoing investigation or would endanger the safety of a person involved in the incident. We will strive to release the most accurate information possible.
Here is an update on our efforts to curtail the recent spike in burglary and theft crimes in the Altadena area:
An update regarding the recent arrest of the burglary suspects in the 1900 block of Mar Vista Avenue on July 25, 2010. Cases against the two adult suspects were presented to the District Attorney’s Office and felony burglary charges were filed against both suspects. The case has not been presented to the District Attorney for the juvenile suspect at this time. Detectives anticipate presenting the case in the following week.
Our combined efforts (Sheriff’s Department, Pasadena Police Department and the Community) has had a significant impact on reported burglaries and thefts over the past two months.
Residential Burglaries: In the past seven weeks our residential burglaries have gone from 12 per week to 3 per week. In the month of June we had 34 reported residential burglaries. In the month of July we had 13 reported residential burglaries.
Thefts (vehicle burglaries, thefts from vehicles, etc.): In mid June we had 5 reported thefts reports per week. By the end of June (which correlated with the start of summer break for the local schools) we were up to 18 reported thefts per week. By the end of July we are down to 5 reported thefts per week. In the month of June we had 41 reported thefts. In the month of July we had 38 reported thefts.
Investigations : Detectives continue to aggressively pursue each and every burglary and theft case we receive. They have served numerous search warrants and recovered a great deal of stolen property. They have identified and arrested numerous people for burglary and theft related crimes.
Patrol: Our patrol force has been supplemented by additional personnel from outside the station. The deputies are working tirelessly to aggressively patrol Altadena in order to strongly deter the criminal element from striking in our neighborhoods.
Community Relations: Our Volunteers on Patrol are patrolling the neighborhoods to boost our presence in the community. They are helping the deputies to deter criminal activity and to be their eyes and ears. If anyone is interested in the Volunteers on Patrol program please feel free to call or email me.
Community: People are becoming more aware of their community. Residents are reporting crimes in a timely manner. We highly encourage everyone to report crimes and report them as soon as possible. As always if you have questions or concerns please feel free to call or email me.
Joseph Dempsey
jedempse@lasd.org
This notice received from Detective Lt. Joe Dempsey of the Altadena Sheriff Station: