West Side of Ridgewood Hit With Burglaries
Many burglaries in recent months have centered around the Route 17 area, though February has brought car and home burglaries on the West Side
There has been something of a lull in reported burglaries and break-ins on the east side of Ridgewood over the last month, but burglars seem to be merely crossing the tracks to the West Side of town.
Police say thieves targeted the posh Ridge-area street of Elmsley Court on Valentine's Day and made off with a 2011 Range Rover and a 2010 Mercedes Benz in the middle of the night. Detectives are still investigating the incident, one of several thefts reported in the past two weeks.
The same day, a woman reported to police that her car parked on Demarest Street was broken into. She told police a GPS device was stolen. Three days later, a Highland Avenue resident also told police that on Feb. 7, her car was entered and ransacked.
Homeowners weren't immune from break-ins either, according to police. A Madison Place homeowner arrived at the house to find someone had entered and stolen her laptop and camera.
Many of the burglaries reported in the past six months have taken place near Route 17 on the East Side of town. No arrests have been made.
Boyd A. Loving
10:58 am on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Simple solution: Hire more cops instead of building more sports fields.
Just one opinion
8:08 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Huh? One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
Boyd A. Loving
9:30 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
There's a limited amount of money available to spend. Money spent on the purchase of property intended to support athletic fields, and the money necessary to maintain those fields, combined with the lost tax revenue, could have been spent on hiring more police officers.
Concerned Ridgewood Dad
11:51 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Boyd,
You're joking right? We need the officers we're paying already to do their jobs.... What on earth are the officers parked outside of Ridgewood Coffee doing sitting in their squad cars? It sure seems to me they're doing an awful lot of checking personal emails, texts and sports scores on their phones. Note to the Ridgewood PD.... taxpayers have eyes - start enforcing the laws already. Unfortunately nobody is willing to stick their neck out and complain about the situation for fear of retaliation - case in point, officer Butlers retaliatory actions against Travel parents picking up their kids from school.
RidgewoodGuy12
8:34 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
Concerned - you are correct; I see officer(s) parked opposite RCC all the time. Just lolly-gagging our tax $$$ away. And, of course, the engine is running, creating pollution and wasting gas.
Peter Coti
11:19 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
Erm... really...? It is a perfect dispatch location for a cop to be in. It a) allows him to monitor the major crosswalk there, b) be readily available to be dispatched from a major hub of town. A few months back people were aching for someone to be in the CBD and there is one! Quit seeing the worst in the cops that are trying to do there job. As a pedestrian I feel much safer knowing there is a cop their consistently.
RWDsRiches
10:58 pm on Monday, April 2, 2012
Officer Butler is rude and unprofessional. I completely agree with you, we do not need more cops. This is a safe town. The cops in this town get a very above-average salary for being a public servant, they should do an above average job at it.
Dominick Nizza
6:36 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
"Preference to West Side", as Dillenger used to say about robbing Banks, "go where the money is".
John Hahn
6:39 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
Having more, expensive police won't stop burglaries. Having a stronger economy with decent paying jobs & dealing effectively with drug additcitons, might. IMHO If they hired 10 more officers there will still be robberies. Some people do not want to work for a living. Although burglary is a different kind of 'job'.
Ridgewood Mom
10:33 am on Tuesday, April 3, 2012
I agree with you, John, that a stronger economy, decent paying jobs, good social programs, etc. are the most sensible and cost effective long term solution to decreasing burglaries and other such crimes across the region, state and nation.
However, I disagree with the point that a larger police force will not improve things at a practical level on a local scale. While I don't necessarily share Boyd's regard for the high school stadium, I agree with his point that tax money spent on more police officers will likely improve the burglary situation in Ridgewood.
Ridgewood is blessed in that people don't really get mugged here. Also, I think that most of our current police force is hard working and worthy of our appreciation. But burglaries an increasing issue these days, particularly as the economy struggles. Catching burglars is a necessary practical expense for us as a community, and an increase in the number of Ridgewood cops could absolutely aid in the catching of more burglars.