The Burglary Crime Unit, (BCU) is responsible for investigating both commercial and residential burglaries throughout the city. The unit consists of 4 Detectives, 1 Intelligence Officer, 1 Pawn Program Assistant and 1 Detective Sergeant. Due to a long term illness, the unit had to work 1 person short for the second half of the year. In 2017, that position will be filled to bring them back up to their authorized strength of 5 Detectives. Each detective is assigned to be a liaison to each of the 5 police districts in the city.
The Pawn Program Assistant is responsible for tracking pawn shop and second hand dealer activity and to try to locate stolen property that shows up in those locations. Criminals do change the way in which they traffic in stolen property to try to outfox us. So, it can be difficult to stay up on current tactics that are being used on the web. In 2016, the Pawn Program Assistant and BCU recovered $113,000 in stolen property that was returned to the owners.
The unit attended and presented at a number of neighborhood meetings, and assisted in a variety of violent crime investigations. They were also able to collaborate with adjoining agencies to ID a couple of suspects who were responsible for 28 different burglaries in the Dane County area.
The BCU has released the 2016 burglary stats per district:? ??? ??? ??
As you can see, city wide burglary stats dropped by almost 200 over 2015. Of the cases assigned for follow up in the BCU, there was a clearance rate of about 19%, which is above the national average. The BCU and the districts do spend time educating citizens how to NOT become burglary victims, so we like to think that the stats show the education is working. The easiest thing to help prevent NOT becoming a victim is lock your doors, garage and cars.
I hear time and time again, "I saw someone suspicious in my neighborhood but I didn't want to bother the police with it." PLEASE bother us! That is why our officers are out patrolling your neighborhoods, we need your eyes and your help to prevent crime in our community. If you would like a BCU member to do a presentation at your neighborhood meeting, just let us know.
Stay safe,
Capt. Cory Nelson