Police are urging Calgarians to lock up their homes, businesses and vehicles after seeing a “significant increase” in break-and-enters throughout the city.
On Friday, the Calgary Police Service (CPS) said there had been a 51 per cent increase in B&E activity in the first seven months of 2019 compared to the five-year average.
“Property crimes are often crimes of opportunity,” Sgt. Doug Crippen said in a news release. “Police are seeing the vast majority of break-ins being committed due to unlocked doors and vehicles, as well as windows and garages that are being left open.”
“It’s not isolated to one neighbourhood, it’s happening throughout our city.”
If you’ve been the victim of a break-and-enter you can report it to police by contacting the non-emergency number at 403-266-1234 or call 911 for crimes in progress.
According to the Calgary Police Service
- Criminals only have to force entry in approximately 34 per cent of break-ins. Most break-ins are completely preventable by locking doors, windows, garages and vehicles
- A total of 2,587 break-and-enters were reported in Calgary from April to June 2019, an increase of approximately nine per cent from January to March 2019. This includes residential and commercial break-ins
- There were 654 reported residential break-and-enters from April to June 2019, an increase of approximately 32 per cent from January to March 2019
- A residential break-and-enter occurs approximately every 2.5 hours in Calgary