[StampedePress]

Hi All,

I'm not sure if anyone else uses the "Neighbors" app, but watching that I'm seeing a ton of car thefts, and burglaries in towns like Avon, Simsbury, Canton.

I'm very interested in moving to the area but there are lots of burglaries and bears. Neither of which are appealing.

Is this the same story in East Hartford? Is this a freak spike or the new normal?

[MikefromCT]

Unfortunately, theft of all kinds is commonplace in this state. People have this misconception that the further away you are from the city gives you more of an immunity from criminal elements. Not anymore. Short of that, our lawmakers have a deeper concern for protecting the (often juvenile) perpetrators of crime than the victims. I'm sure plenty of people here will contest that and say it's simply not true, but all signs point to the contrary. As a result, crime is spiking. Since juveniles are often responsible, these acts are often expunged from the record books and so are the crimes. So when people say crime is down, they leave out the fact that juvenile crime is actually quite high.

[brownedbits]

You named several homogeneous (white, affluent) towns. The crime there is of the "I left my car unlocked in the driveway and my iPad Pro I left on the front seat in plain view was stolen" variety. Crime is still crime but I certainly wouldn't let that deter you from looking at those towns. I doubt there has been as much of an uptick in East Hartford because to be frank, people there probably know to lock their doors. I live in Hartford and in no world do I leave my car unlocked or with valuables inside (for the record, I have also never had a problem with crime in Hartford personally). People in Avon are probably way more complacent.

I agree with the previous poster that there has been an uptick in suburban car break-ins all across the state. If the criminals are caught, they 9 times out of 10 are indeed juveniles who face zero repercussions.

[JayCT]

I am not sure what your definition is of the word “lots”. Yes, there are car thefts and burglaries i

n suburbs but that is true in any affluent community. We do have it here in Glastonbury too. The same in South Windsor, Tolland, Marlborough, Bolton or other affluent town in the country. What you do get away from is violent crime. Shootings, muggings, murders, etc. are less in suburbs.

As for bears, the Farmington River Valley is pretty wooded. That is part of its charm and beauty. With large stretches of woods comes wildlife. That includes bears. My family that lives in the woods of Simsbury see bears pretty often. It’s not a big deal to them. They have had them in their yard and on their deck. They even once had one sitting on their car in the garage. They either ignore them or in the case of the one in the garage just shooed them away (this is not recommended). They are pretty harmless for the most part. Still never take chances. Just wait for them to leave which they do. Unfortunately wildlife is part of living in the outer suburbs and rural areas. Not much you can do about that. Jay

[kidyankee764]

Burglaries in the suburbs of CT have increased exponentially and is a direct result of Malloy’s restructuring of the juvenile criminal justice system. Prior to leaving CT, some Fairfield County towns experienced over a 100% increase in vehicle burglaries and vehicle thefts between 2013 and 2017. Unfortunately the juveniles, the majority of whom live in the urban poor cities, who are committing these crimes are not being prosecuted and they know it. Why wouldn’t they continue to do it?

Lock your car doors.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by MikefromCT

Unfortunately, theft of all kinds is commonplace in this state. People have this misconception that the further away you are from the city gives you more of an immunity from criminal elements. Not anymore. Short of that, our lawmakers have a deeper concern for protecting the (often juvenile) perpetrators of crime than the victims. I'm sure plenty of people here will contest that and say it's simply not true, but all signs point to the contrary. As a result, crime is spiking. Since juveniles are often responsible, these acts are often expunged from the record books and so are the crimes. So when people say crime is down, they leave out the fact that juvenile crime is actually quite high.

Exactly. I can tell you firsthand, it is true. Anyone who says otherwise is plain wrong.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Exactly. I can tell you firsthand, it is true. Anyone who says otherwise is plain wrong.

Just want to add, JayCT is correct in saying violent crime is very low in the suburbs. The cities, not so much.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Just want to add, JayCT is correct in saying violent crime is very low in the suburbs. The cities, not so much.

Agree re: violent crime. But the number of break-ins in West Hartford, into vehicles that are parked in driveways, is legendary and unfortunate for an affluent area. The WH police have made it a nightly thing on Facebook and Twitter to remind residents to lock their vehicles.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

Agree re: violent crime. But the number of break-ins in West Hartford, into vehicles that are parked in driveways, is legendary and unfortunate for an affluent area. The WH police have made it a nightly thing on Facebook and Twitter to remind residents to lock their vehicles.

It’s insane. It’s not just WH (although probably worse there due to proximity to Hartford), but all suburbs are dealing with it.

Thank Dan Malloy!

[StampedePress]

Bears I can deal with, but looters not so much.

I did a google search and I see this has been going on for years. From what I see it looks like this is primarily young kids doing the looting, as you guys mentioned, but often working in coordination with older "leaders" who I assume collect the loot and distribute. Not a great situation, especially now learning that juvenile crime is essentially ignored. It's a great system they have going.

It's such a nice area, but why this could continue for so long is shocking. We have rashes of this where I live but it's squashed relatively quickly with public awareness and increased police patrol. I'm sure the solution is not unknown, this type of petty crime must be common across the country. What's the issue?

Some of the crimes just seem so brash, a few weeks ago two cars stolen from in the basement garage of a house while the owners where home. ...how in the world... I would want every police unit patrolling the streets at that point.
Just a matter of time till someone gets killed in a wrong place - wrong time burglary related shooting.