Tonight's "Nite to Unite" events throughout the area likely will include a message from police to residents: Lock your doors.
A string of 21 burglaries were reported in West Fargo between Friday and Monday, the majority of which were what police call "crimes of opportunity" - just opening unlocked doors, Assistant West Fargo Police Chief Mike Reitan said.
"They've gone down the street, checked every car, checked every residence, and when they find an open door, they go in and take what they can," Reitan said. "Obviously, if the doors were locked, it appears that they're not going to force entry."
A few business burglaries have involved forced entry, but that is less common in garage, vehicle and residential burglaries.
"This past weekend we did have one where it was a forced entry on the home and the person in the home did scare off the intruder," Reitan said, adding some homes were burglarized as residents slept.
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West Fargo's Charleswood and Tintes additions have been hit hardest this year, with 35 of this year's roughly 60 burglaries reported in those neighborhoods, he said.
"There's a number of them that we feel are tied together just because of their location and their method of operation," Reitan said.
Authorities are planning to do a crime analysis to find potential patterns in the times and dates of the burglaries, most of which have occurred overnight, Reitan said.
"Typically, what we find is there is a rash of them and we'll make arrests and things will slow down and we'll clear a bunch of cases and there will be a period of time and all of a sudden somebody else will start up," Reitan said.
The same is usually true in Fargo, where police have received numerous reports of burglaries and car prowlers recently, Sgt. Ross Renner said.
"Usually we'll catch a few and then it stops," Renner said, adding lately it has been kind of "constant."
Fargo police have also received reports of burglaries involving unlocked property, including a July incident in which a 42-inch plasma television, cash and miscellaneous electronics were stolen from a south Fargo home while a family was asleep inside.
On July 15, a thief left behind a note for a Fargo man after stealing bank cards and cash from inside his unlocked 1999 Cadillac Escalade, which had the keys inside the ignition.
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Local authorities plan to remind residents to lock up belongings tonight at Nite to Unite events slated throughout the metro area, Reitan said. The events are aimed at getting neighbors to know one another and will be attended by police.
Fargo police have promoted a "Lock it or Lose it" campaign, placing reminders inside gym lockers or on bikes and reminding residents such property crime can be prevented.
It can be frustrating for an officer to go to a burglary scene and have an individual make a comment about not locking their door despite knowing about burglaries in the area, Reitan said.
"We would like to be able to think we should be able to leave our stuff out and not have it stolen, but it's not the case," he said.
