Summer 2017
Springs Police Department also showed a heavy police presence around businesses that were known to traffic in stolen property. Soon burglars were fearful to pawn their stolen goods at these pawn shops and second-hand dealers.
C) Things. The BEAR Unit looked at “things” taken from burglaries and “things” used to commit the burglaries. When looking at things/items commonly stolen in burglaries, department members noticed a pattern. It appeared that bur- glaries where jewelry was the most common item taken, were most prevalent on Tuesdays. A closer examination of this pattern showed that jewelry from Tuesday morning burglaries was immediately taken to a popular local flee mar- ket where gold vendors set up makeshift shops on Tuesdays. The stolen jewelry was sold and melted down within hours of the crime. Once this pattern was uncovered, BEAR Unit members worked with detectives from several other jurisdictions to target the second-hand gold dealers who were purchasing stolen jewelry on Tuesdays. Because of these efforts, charges were brought against these second-hand gold dealers for dealing in stolen property. The easy and popular method to turn stolen jewelry into cash was shut down.
Left: A spark plug that can be found in any auto parts store. Right: After the spark plug is smashed, the ceramic chips are used to shatter windows.
Bear Unit members took this photo of a rental vehicle with the window tint on the outside of the glass
By focusing on “things” unit members discovered that it was common for burglars to utilize rental vehicles to commit their crimes. A closer examination showed that most rental vehicles were rented by females who were seldom in the vehicle when the vehicle was being utilized to commit crimes. Furthermore, most of the vehicle’s windows were tinted on the outside of the vehicle to provide anonymity inside the vehicle and allow a quick restoration to its original condi- tion when the rental vehicle was returned to the rental agency. When the BEAR Unit found a rental vehicle with tint on the outside windows, they knew they had found a burglar.
Pictured above is a standard Green Dot card that can be purchased at retail outlets.
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