Mansfield Police on Dealing with Break Ins

This summer, as is common in most summers, according to Detective Sergeant Sam Thompson, saw a rise in both residential and vehicular break ins.

Procedure with break-ins vary on the call; most of the time, the crime is discovered well after its occurrence, but Mansfield Police still investigate most cases.

Most residential break ins occur during the summer and/or holiday seasons. Thompson said there is no real pattern in Mansfield, but the majority of residential break ins occur during the day; presumably while the resident is out of the house. In vehicular break ins, midnight to early morning is the most common time of occurrence.

During a residential break in investigation, Thompson said that investigators are on scene as soon as the patrol officers have determined that the suspect is no longer in the residence (or business). Once on scene, detectives first determine the point of entry, and photograph the outside.

“[We look for] a broken window, broken door, pried door,” he said. “We photograph anything on the scene in regards to the break in itself.”

If the owner or representative is on hand, police then do a walkthrough of the house and find out what might be missing.

If the location seems to be out of order or tampered with in any way, fingerprints are taken and put into the database.

Patrol officers then perform a neighborhood canvas to see if anyone saw anything that could help lead them to the suspect.

“The eyes and ears of the police is the public,” he said. “We can’t do it alone, so look out for your neighbors and report anything out of the ordinary. If there’s a suspicious vehicle or a suspicious person, you know, call the police and we’ll come out and find out what they’re doing there.”

In some cases blood or DNA may be taken and given to the state database for analysis, but such measures take months to complete, as the testing itself is priority driven and takes a lot longer than crime TV shows would lead you to believe.

“It’s very rare,” he said. “There’s a huge backlog; so obviously if there’s a murder, that takes priority.”

In most home break ins, jewelry is the most common type of item that is found missing. In vehicular break ins, usually any loose items, such as MP3 players, GPS units, loose change and wallets, are taken.

In any case, Thompson said the first thing they do is contact pawn shops in the area to see if they can recover the property and find any information about who sold it.

One big Mansfield break in that garnered national attention occurred in 2006 to the former AmerisourceBergen Corp. warehouse in the Cabot Industrial Park. Mansfield police, along with investigators from the state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, found that the building had been broken into from the ceiling. Thompson said this was not a common occurrence, as the perpetrators were found to be career criminals.

 “These guys cut through the roof of the building,” he said. “They were very particular and they knew exactly what they were doing. They were definitely professionals. You don’t see that in home breaks. Home breaks and car breaks are crimes of opportunity. They’re going to take the path of least resistance.”

Thompson said that in vehicular break ins most of the time the car is unlocked. He said the best advice is to lock up your vehicle and don’t leave anything of value in the vehicle, or at least visible.

In some cases over the summer, some Mansfield residents left their wallet, pocketbook or purse inside their vehicle while it was unlocked.

Most of the time, alarm activation means a defective or accidental activation in Mansfield. Thompson said that sometimes they are a big deterrent to a thief. He said that last year, a suspect knocked down the door to a residence and set off the alarm. Even though the alarm wasn't hooked up to an alarm system, the noise was enough to make the suspect think better of their decision.

Thompson said the best thing you can do to prevent break ins is to report activity, keep every entrance to your vehicle or residence locked and tell police when you go out on vacation.

Mansfield police already perform proactive patrols around the area, but if you fill out a form at the station they will periodically check your residence while you are away for anything suspicious.