WATCH ABOVE: After a string of burglaries near a remote bike path in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, local residents have decided to put in extra security measures themselves. Rachel Lau has details.
KIRKLAND – After a string of break-ins in homes that back onto this bike path, residents in Kirkland and Beaconsfield are taking matters into their own hands.
“We need to be a little more on the up and up because there’s not enough patrol,” said Tina Wentzell, the founder of West Island Mommies.
“If there were lights, it would be a lot better. We could have patrols, we could have more safety just along the bike path.”
They’re setting up a neighbourhood watch and ramping up the number of civilian patrols.
“It should be paved, it should be lit up, there should be deterrents for these guys that keep robbing everyone,” said Wentzell.
There have already been four break-ins in this area and residents who live along this bike bath are concerned because it’s so quiet and remote.
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Earlier this month, a burglar broke into two homes in Kirkland.
“Every day a new story pops up that someone else was robbed and then another,” said Wentzell.
“It’s like they pick an area and then they go to another area, but it seems to always be along the bike path where they can have easy access.”
Just a few days after these first break-ins, the same thing happened in the north side of Kirkland, as well as in Beaconsfield.
“The suspect broke in through the back door, the patio door, breaking the window, entered the house and fled the scene,” explained Constable Jean-Pierre Levis with the Montreal police.
“All of the break-ins, all four of them, happened in a short time frame.”
These robberies are especially worrying to residents after 23-year-old Jenique Dalcourt was found murdered on a bike path in Longueuil.
“In the evening it’s very quiet, there’s nobody on here and without a full moon it is extremely dark,” said Nick Glucksman, who was walking his dog.
West Island police are still looking for the robbery suspect(s).
In the meantime, they’re asking residents to be vigilant.
“A neighbourhood-type watch organization or program is most definitely welcome,” said Levis.
“If we have people looking out for each other, neighbours looking out for neighbours, who can call 911.”
Anyone with any information is asked to call Info-Crime at 514 393 1133.
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