San Angelo Police Warn of Holiday Theft Spikes

“There were several accidents downtown that occurred over the past six months,” said Del Velasquez to a crowd of about 20 in the Downtown San Angelo, Inc. office on Thursday evening. “So I called Chief Vasquez and councilman Silvas as well and asked, ‘Hey, what can we do about this?’”

In response, the San Angelo Police Department hosted an informative session on crime prevention, identity theft and online crime reporting that was open to the public and coordinated by the Community Services Division as a precursor to the holiday season.

Sector 2 Liaison Officer Jennifer Kuhlmann kicked off the meeting with a brief introduction to the role of Community Services as a link between the public and the police, which seeks to foster a positive relationship beyond the normal call of duty.

Officer Kuhlmann stressed that the key to crime prevention is cooperation and communication between the community and the police, and for citizens to be proactive and not reactive.

“In order for it [crime prevention] to be successful, you have to fight,” said Kuhlmann. “We can teach you everything that we can, but you have to ultimately be responsible, and we want to bridge that gap for you.”

Part of bridging that gap includes providing information and tips, and alerting citizens as to when and where crime is or may occur. With the holiday season around the corner, the current focus of a lot of concern is on identity and credit card theft.

Kuhlmann said, “Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America…For a while they were putting card readers in the slots at gas stations…”

A handful of recent press releases from the police department might lead one to believe that this and credit card theft are on the rise, however surprisingly, Kuhlmann states this is not the case. Rather than rates rising over previous years, the crimes are following a normal upward progression typical for this time of year.

As the days till Christmas count down, the San Angelo Police Department urges citizens to be careful while shopping, being certain to only carry what is needed and to leave Social Security Cards and unneeded cash at home, and to always shred personal documents containing any sensitive information.

Victims of identity or any other kind of theft should take action immediately: contact all credit bureaus, cancel all cards and call the police.

Even more than credit card and identity theft, burglaries of vehicles are anticipated to rise till the end of the year. Cars tend to be a target during the holiday season, especially if packages and bags are left in the vehicles, Kuhlmann says.

And while there were no statistics available at Thursday’s meeting on vehicle burglaries, one slide in the presentation showed that San Angelo has seen a spike in burglaries of residences since 2012. Most of these cases, Kuhlmann says, were preventable with simple measures.

“Burglary of a Residence…2013, it looks like a dramatic increase,” Kuhlmann says, displaying a bar graph with pink bars for 2013 and green ones for 2012. Some of the pink ones among the four beats have stretched to over 15 more cases than the previous year. “Most of the time what’s happening is, we’re leaving our homes open. We’re inviting people into our homes.” Kuhlmann said.

Simple things that should be common sense can help keep the criminals out: keep your house lighted and trim your shrubs so that perps don’t have a jungle to hide in; lock your doors and don’t leave garage doors up or keys in vehicles; and especially during the holidays, don’t display shiny boxes of gifts proudly in your window.

Businesses may put a chime on the door and abstain from obstructing storefronts and windows so that they have a clear view of who enters and exits, or designate an employee to be a door greeter.

For all crimes, however, Kuhlmann stated that 80 percent of protecting yourself is knowledge. The SAPD is currently stepping up their information and social media services to alert the public, and one of those avenues is the Blue Watch program, a program similar to Neighborhood Watch that’s mediated online.

San Angelo is divided up into four sectors and citizens may apply to become a member of the group corresponding to their sector. The groups are private and controlled on Facebook, and each person must apply to join by submitting a form online to the SAPD, and passing a clean soft background check to be permitted to join the group.

The idea is to provide concentrated, area-relevant information to citizens affected in a certain sector, and to encourage communication between participants and with the police.

“We spoke about that nosy neighbor that knows that red car is not supposed to be in your driveway,” Kuhlmann says as example, “if they don’t think it’s an emergency enough to call the police about it…once they’re Blue Watch members, they can go online and notify people about it.”

Information on Blue Watch, as well as sector maps and application forms may be found on the San Angelo Police Department website or on their Facebook page. The Community Services Division hosts several meetings a year to encourage public input and address concerns, as well as to provide an opportunity to meet the officers in an informal environment.