My name is Ryan Kapaun and I am the Law Enforcement Analyst for the Police Department. I have many duties, including gathering crime trend information from Eden Prairie and other police departments that may impact Eden Prairie and assisting Detectives with their investigations. Basically, my job is to take a lot of information and break it down into something actionable and understandable.
One of my other duties is to assist the Patrol Division by giving them information on when and where crime is going to happen, based on previous crime trends. I also try to understand why specific crime trends are occurring. I look at patterns to predict when a crime is going to take place, so Patrol can prevent that crime from occurring.
As reported in an Eden Prairie News article, residential burglaries, as well as theft from vehicle reports, are dramatically up this summer. I recently looked at thefts from vehicles and residential burglaries that occurred from June 1 to July 5 to understand why this was happening.
Some things that stand-out from the data:
- Of the 18 residential burglaries, 9 (50%) were the result of a garage door left open.
- The most common items taken in burglaries were purses/wallets, golf clubs and iPods.
- Most burglaries occurred between 10 pm and 6 am.
- During 12 of the burglaries, the victim was home.
- Of the 55 thefts from vehicles, 26 (47%) of the vehicles were parked in the driveway outside of the home of the victim.
- In 55% of the thefts from vehicles, the victim either left their car unlocked or was unsure if their vehicle was locked.
- The most common items taken in thefts from vehicles were GPS, iPods, purses/wallets, CDs, sunglasses and digital cameras.
NOTE: If a thief enters a vehicle parked in a garage, the Police Department classifies it as a residential burglary. If the thief enters a vehicle parked in the driveway, it is classified as a theft from vehicle, or as we technically call it: Tamper with Auto. It took me a while to keep the classifications straight. Several of the residential burglaries were the result of the suspect entering a parked car in a garage.
One of my theories for the rise in burglaries and thefts from vehicles is the increased availability of inexpensive electronics. As more people are able to afford GPS, iPods and digital cameras, more people forget the items in their car. Generally, the property crimes I looked at were crimes of opportunity (i.e. open garage doors, unlocked vehicles, valuables left in the open). Very few crimes were forced or resulted 
in property damage.
Just this week, Minnetonka released a crime alert warning residents to lock their car doors in their driveways, as thieves have been using garage door openers found in cars to gain entry to homes.
Bottom line: Keep your garage door closed, your car locked and the iPod with you and your chances of being the victim of a theft are dramatically reduced.
