Burglary Reports Push Up Valley Crime Numbers

Burglary reports poured into the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department as property crime continued to rise in the Spokane Valley during July.

Sheriff’s Department statistics showed 66 burglary reports in the Valley last month.

For the second month in a row, the south Valley area in and around Opportunity was the hardest hit by property crime. Residents and businesses reported 34 burglaries in that area.

Residents of the Dishman area also were victimized. People there reported 12 burglaries.

“It’s normal for this time of year for burglaries to go up because people are gone more on vacation,” said Gary Smith, who heads the property crime division for the Sheriff’s Department.

The number of burglaries that were the result of forced entry was nearly the same as the number of those resulting from unforced entries, such as entry through an open window or unlocked door.

“It’s just more than we can handle,” Smith said. “The past four to five years we have probably doubled the number of reported crimes.”

Reports of stolen vehicles and theft were also numerous, Smith said.

Though theft is often tough to combat, many of the things that were reported stolen around the Valley were left out in yards.

“Putting things away would help,” Smith said.

“If (residents) leave things out where people walking by could take them, it’s like a crime of opportunity.”

Malicious mischief, particularly mailbox vandalism, was also high for the month.

“I think it’s probably just kids getting their kicks,” Smith said of the mailbox destructions. “Probably because of the nice weather, people are out and about all night long.”

Valley Fire reported a half dozen newspaper delivery boxes destroyed by fire on July 25 along the 5000 block of East Malta. Smith said others were smashed with a club.

Also, bicycles were stolen at a record pace from outside Valley stores during the month.

The Sheriff’s Department said they logged 19 reports of bicycles stolen from the University City Mall parking lot.

An additional seven were reportedly taken from outside the Fred Meyer and Kmart stores at Sprague and Sullivan.

Bolt cutters were used to cut locks on some of the bicycles, while others were left unlocked.

, DataTimes