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KSL Newsradio, Marc Giauque ReportingThree a.m. in Sandy. His calls completed for the moment, police officer Jared Buchanan patrols neighborhoods, as part of the department's Night Eye's program.
Officer Jared Buchanan: "Just drive around, look for anything that looks out of the ordinary, also try to put a presence in the neighborhood, to try to deter the crime."
Like in many sleepy suburbs, residential burglaries are a big part of the crime picture here. Often, police say, we make it easy for the bad guy.
In fact, police say open garage doors, even in winter, are a common problem.
Officer Jared Buchanan: "There's nobody out here, garage door's open. I could walk in, and take that and be gone. Well look, he's got his cabinet thing inside, who knows what he's got in there."
Turns out at this house, it was tools, a television and other items, not to mention an unlocked car. Later the homeowner admitted another security lapse—the door from the house into the garage was not locked.
Homeowner Carrie Willams: "We get a little too trusting, and we think that it's never going to happen to you."
But it has happened to Carrie Willams. "I had my Jeep out in the garage broken into, smashed the window."
Williams is concerned about security in her home, she's even considered an alarm system. Besides that, there's a list of other items, such as laminates, to make windows harder to break, safes, even bars on windows. But police say even simpler things will help. Officer Jerry Silva says in most cases, crooks go for the easy mark. "You've gotta have common sense. You're gonna pass up a home at night that has motion lights, you're gonna pass up a home that has a dog in the yard, you're gonna pass up a home that you know is visible from all angles, not bushes overgrown in your yard, trees overgrown in your yard."
Police and the city here work with homeowners.
Officer Silva: "I'm gonna show you the difference this side of the road and the west side of the subdivision because it's a world of difference."
Different, he says, because on one side homes and yards are better kept, landscaping is such that people can see entry ways and into yards.
Officer Silva: This house right here has been burglarized, you know it's got a fence around it, you can't really see too much.
Silva says upkeep is important. It's something called the broken window theory.
Officer Silva: They did this study where they took a Jaguar, and left it in Brooklyn New York for four days and it never got touched. Well, then they broke a window on it and within 24 hours, there were more windows broken tires gone.
The biggest difference, he says, is knowing your neighbors and making sure they know you.
