It is amazing to me the number of residents who ignore the constant reminders and continue NOT TO LOCK THEIR VEHICLES despite the numerous vehicle burglaries that continue to take place week after week. Residents need to take responsibility by taking preventitve action and not just assume increased police manpower, beefed up patrols, cameras, etc. is the answer.

I was wondering when a story about this one night of NINE vehicle break-ins would appear on the Patch. In the Police Blotter? Really? I guess it's now business as usual.

Also, I'm not faulting the police. But I do think informing people promptly will help residents keep extra vigilant.

I'm all for holding people responsible for protecting their property against theft as the first line of defense.

However, I believe this is the first report I've seen that's included so many locked cars.
By my count:

11 successful vehicle entries
6 were locked
5 were unlocked
1 unsuccessful entry with the vehicle locked
----
If you count the 3 unlocked cars at the single address as a single successful event:

9 successful entry events
5 unlocked
4 unlocked

Previously the burglaries involving locked cars did occur, but they were in the vast minority. Not this time. Hopefully this is just an anomaly, but I fear it's the start of a new trend. Other than making sure everyone locks their doors, what are we civilians supposed to be doing? Take actions such as never parking overnight in our own driveways, locking all entries to our garages and alarming them, or installing timed and motion detector flood lights? Although, who's going to notice a light go on at 3am. It might actually make it easier for the buglers.

I also don't really blame the MPD for not being able to easily stop this because I just don't think they're set up to battle a seemingly random attack which hits all parts of town. I know nothing about law enforcement methodology so I won't presume to say, "MPD should do X Y Z", but I do wish it would stop at some point soon.

Catch 22 here - Lock your car and the lock may be punched out and you may be robbed//rummaged....don't lock your car and it may be robbed/rummaged but at least nothing is broken when thieves are done. Which is better? Think I would rather leave it unlocked under those circumstances. Best advice Use your locked garage if you have one. I found it odd that so many cars are rummaged through with nothing taken? We have "picky" burglars! We've put in a home alarm system. I can get over having my car ransacked but do not want to be home - or have one of my teens home alone - and have a burgler arrive. That is truly scary.

The word is out among crooks: easy pickings here. I've mentioned it before, but those who leave their cars unlocked and/or their houses dark (inside and out) at night have encouraged this criminal activity, and increased the crime risk for us all.

Crooks who come into the area looking for unlocked cars, will certainly engage a locked vehicle in a dark driveway or unlit garage.

Our lax neighbors have encouraged these criminals. And to this day, people still leave their houses and driveways pitch dark at night. Two weeks ago I saw a local resident leave an unlocked vehicle parked on main street, with keys in the ignition.

If people made things as uncomfortable as possible for criminals (locked their vehicles and homes, kept exteriors well lit, etc) criminals would look elsewhere. But the arrogance / ignorance / airheadedness of residents, still to this day, is nothing short of breathtaking.

Let's count: 4 arrests for theft at the mall out of 4 crimes listed. 0 arrests for home and vehicle break ins out of 13 crimes listed. The results show that the Millburn police are totally ineffective at doing anything other than acting as mall cops.

Word apparently is out, and the town council, mayor, and police are not doing anything that has led to any results. No show of force, no strong words in the press, no nothing. If they care at all they are not showing it.

Bill
You not only have your head-up your ass, but have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe you should talk to MPD and find out what the truth is..

MPD will be the first to tell you that the township is not as safe as most residents are lulled into thinking that it is. They do care and they do work hard. Please, take the time to talk to the MPD. We are geographically close to high crime areas and are prime pickings for both professional and non-professional thieves. If you don't lock your car and engage your alarm, well, you're just not being a smart citizen. IMO the town needs to invest in a truckload of cameras and a central monitoring station that is closely watched 24/7. Show of force? We're a town of 20,000. Yes, we're more solvent than most, however, that being said there is no way we can hire enough officers to be everywhere at once. Impossible. Cameras/close monitoring combined with quick response (yes, they will respond quickly) is something to seriously consider.

How do you propose that the cameras be distributed? These crimes take place mostly on residential side streets. Should every intersection be equipped with night vision cameras pointing in each direction, or a camera in every driveway? The town isn't a closed environment like a parking lot and it's not illegal to enter or exit it during the night. I think that the cost of installing and manning a surveillance system that would be effective across the entire town would be astronomical. Maybe there should be a curfew?

As for the geographical proximity to high crime areas, I have an example from my own experience. I lived in Clifton for a while, a couple of blocks from the Passaic border and closer to the Paterson border than SH is to any of the bad towns. My complex had an open parking lot with no security. At the time I had a 1st gen X5, when they were still rare. Nothing ever happened to my car, no one ever broke into my 1st floor apartment, and nothing ever happened in the NJT lot, which was remote and after rush hour, deserted. The difference was that there was a regular police presence. They'd patrol the streets and would monitor the train station lot. This was not every 10 minutes, but enough so that I believe that it was an adequate deterrent.

Obviously cameras can't be placed at every intersection. A good start would be multiple cameras at both both train stations and several key intersections that lead to many of the side streets. I agree in stepping up patrols. There's nothing like a physical presence. Still, surveillance technology has come a long way and could be a very useful tool in helping to get a handle on the situation.

I was one on the 1/13 victims. Millburn needs to train cops to act more like Newark/Bronx officers and beat the piss out of these criminals. I was told that some thieves are on a first name basis with MPD. Judges are letting them go and they keep coming back. These cops are a joke. Most of them grew up in town and hate that the town has changed over the past 15-20 years. There is no interest in protecting its citizens. I'm for paying monthly fee for private patrol.

The home break in while someone is sleeping is astonishing to me! Did they sleep through this entire break-in? Was the thief that quiet?

Also, if you look back at the past year in police activity, there has been a dramatic shift toward more home break-ins, locked car theft, and lest we forget the mugging at gun point at SH train station at 6:30am one morning. Clearly, continuing with the same police and monitoring plan is not working! We need to get very very tough on crime here. We need to publicize that Millburn Gets Tough on Crime. Is there anything we can do (citizens watch groups, private security patrols to supplement cops, surveillance cameras at train stations and public areas) that will at least send a signal to these crooks that they need to go elsewhere? Enough is enough!!!!!!!

When is the next Township Committee meeting? I think the members of this town should fill the room to show our concern.