Crime & Safety

Police: As Temperatures Increase, So Do Thefts and Burglaries

Police and township commissioners are reminding residents to report suspicious activity.

With township crime up, Lower Merion Police Supt. Michael McGrath and Ward 2 Commissioner Jenny Brown last week sent an email reminding residents to report suspicious activity to police.

“Typically when the weather warms up, there’s more thefts and burglaries, and that is occurring,” McGrath told Patch. “There’s been an increase in the last couple months over the previous couple of months.”

That said, burglaries are down about 25 percent in the same time period as last year, McGrath said.

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In addition to a number of to news media, the email from McGrath that Jenny Brown forwarded to constituents last week noted a number of similar crimes throughout the month of May.

On May 23, there was a daytime in Villanova. On May 16, there was a in Gladwyne, and on May 6, there was a theft from a car on the 1600 block of Hagysford Road. Also on May 6, a in Gladwyne, and on April 28 there was a burglary reported on the 100 block of Fairview Road.

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In the email, McGrath also detailed how to spot suspicious activity in response to a resident who he said wrote that with the number of service vehicles in the area, it can be difficult who “may or may not be suspicious.”

“Awareness of your surroundings and your neighborhood, such as the observation of a vehicle in a neighbor’s driveway when you know they are away on a trip, or an individual soliciting without providing literature for the product or service they are peddling, or the unexpected knock on the door and confronting a person who asks for someone other than the resident and then states that they mistook the address” are all suspicious activities and behaviors that would warrant a call to police, McGrath wrote.

Ward 10 Commissioner Scott Zelov  reminding residents to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior.

“Our message to residents is that they still need to be aware of their surroundings in their neighborhood and help themselves and us by reporting suspicious activity,” he said. “Don’t hesitate to call. We want to check out things, and if there isn’t a problem, great, and if there is, then we can address it.”


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