Map shows city burglary trends

CENTRAL GLENDALE — Police have released a map advising residents that most vehicle burglaries since the new year have occurred in areas with many apartment buildings and underground garages.

The map, available on the Glendale Police Department’s website, shows that central, downtown and south Glendale saw the most vehicle burglaries from Jan. 1 to March 25, with more than 90 burglaries. Burglaries also occurred in northwest Glendale and La Crescenta, near Lowell Avenue, which was hit with seven.

The break-ins were largely attributed to Glendale and La Crescenta residents who live in apartment buildings, park their cars in unprotected underground garages and leave valuables inside their cars overnight, Glendale Police Sgt. Vahak Mardikian said.

“They hit subterranean garages because you have more goods in one area,” he said.

The latest Glendale Police Department crime statistics from February showed that 107 vehicle burglaries occurred since the beginning of the year.

Burglars often struck Concord Street, where at least 10 vehicle burglaries occurred, Mardikian said.

Concord Street is a target for burglars because it is lined with apartment buildings that have underground garages, and it is near the Ventura (134) Freeway, he said.

The street’s proximity to the freeway is ideal for burglars who are looking to make a quick escape, and “detection is a lot more difficult,” Mardikian said.

Concord Street resident Diane Khodadian has lived in the neighborhood for five years and has never been the victim of a vehicle burglary.

But one of her neighbors’ cars was stolen, and another’s car was burglarized, with a navigation system and stereo system stolen, Khodadian said. She tries not to leave valuables in her car, she said.

But Khodadian said she wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

“It’s pretty much safe,” she said.

Central Glendale resident Atim Childers leaves some valuables in her car, but she said they are not worth much.

“I feel safe in this area,” she said.

People often leave computer laptops, navigation systems or mp3 players visible in their cars, Mardikian said. The items are worth several hundred dollars and yield a significant return for burglars, he said.

Thieves are stealing to make money or to support a drug habit, Mardikian said.

They often use a “smash and grab” technique to break into a car, he said.

“Most of the time they don’t have to go through the car because they could just see what’s inside,” Mardikian said.

Apartment building or condominium owners often secure their underground garages by improving lighting and fixing door locks and gates, Mardikian said.

“If you don’t know about it, you can’t do anything about it,” he said.

Mardikian hopes the map will make more residents aware of the rise in vehicle burglaries and “to just be aware of what’s going around in your neighborhood.”