Brazen break-in part of rash of thefts in Moncton's old west end
23 Comments
Jim Cyr Breaking into someone's HOME needs to be met with the harshest possible punishments. What would help to reduce this is an increase in the number of people shot by homeowners. Sad but true. If there is a good chance that you are going to get shot if you break in, you probably won't do it.
Marguerite Deschamp
Reply to @Jim Cyr: these are stupid crimes just like robbing the convenience store for just a few dollars. For home invasions and robbery, the culprits risk long jail sentences and it does not deter them. These crimes are committed by drug addicts who never think about the consequences. Nothing will stop them, even the risk of getting shot. Put down your gun, Jim.
David R. Amos
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Methinks many would agree that Jim has far more common sense than you N'esy Pas?
Marguerite Deschamps Reply to @David R. Amos: if it's the People's Alliance common sense that you are referring to, I can do without.
Steve Dueck
This is why some states have a stand your ground law...home owner’s can protect themselves...and the crook gets what they deserve
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Steve Dueck: and you can get shot by looking at someone the wrong way. No thank you!
Jim Cyr
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Not true, Marguerite.
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Jim Cyr: TRUE! If you're white, you'll get away with it. Otherwise, you'll end up on death row.
David R. Amos
Reply to @Steve Dueck: I concur
David R. Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Methinks you clearly speak as the far left wing wacko you truly are N'esy Pas?
Larry LeBlanc
We have a Rottweiler...well trained, socialized, and loves to have visitors when we are home. Come around when we are out or sleeping and he'll let you in but he won't let you out.
David R. Amos
Reply to @Larry LeBlanc: Good dog
Larry LeBlanc
Reply to @David R. Amos: He is that and much more...
James Johnstone
Is there a police force in Moncton? Most cities have patrols that cover different areas and actually look after the residents. I never see a patrol car in my area day or night.
David R. Amos
Reply to @James Johnstone: Methinks the RCMP don't work very hard in NB N'esy Pas?
David White
Your Police really need to get on top of this. Isn't that their job?
Jim Cyr
Reply to @David White: When seconds count, the police are just minutes away........
David R. Amos Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Methinks many folks would prefer to have and Dianne Reddy and Cathy Manuel as friends and neighbours than you and thousand SANB lawyers N'esy Pas?
Marguerite Deschamps Reply to @David R. Amos: than you too, for sure! If you're so popular, why do you get consistently pummelled at the polls?
Taking a swing at crime in Moncton's old west end
Residents work on fighting crime in the neighbourhood — beginning with reporting it to police
Residents in Moncton's old west end say crime is on the rise in the neighbourhood, and they're organizing in hopes of putting a stop to it.
Dianne Reddy is so fed up, she keeps a baseball bat by the door.
"If I find anybody on my property that doesn't belong here, day or night, I am not afraid to use it," she said.
"The police know about this. They told me it's not a good idea, but at this point I really don't care." Reddy has lived in the neighbourhood for 21 years but said a recent rash of thefts has made her consider leaving.
In the last two years, she said, her car has been broken into at least a dozen times, and her key chain containing both her car and house keys was taken twice.
"They had gotten the keys out of the house in October but I didn't know that."
Reddy assumed she had misplaced her keys, until she woke up one morning to find her car missing. "The police found my car with a couple in it. They had my keys."
She is vigilant about keeping her car and home doors locked, but it feels as if thieves will "take whatever is not nailed down."
Coun. Charles Léger says people should report crime, so police will get a better understanding of where it's happening. (Tori Weldon/CBC)
Others in the tree-lined neighbourhood feel the same frustration. So much so, that when a meeting was held this week to discuss the increase in crime, about 120 people showed up.
"The perception obviously is that the number of crimes of opportunity have increased in this area and people don't feel safe," said Charles Léger, the Moncton city councillor who represents the ward.
Léger is also chair of the Codiac Regional Policing Authority, the group responsible for overseeing planning, police coverage and fiscal management of Codiac RCMP for Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.
The authority posts a monthly crime map, which shows only three incidents of property crime in the old west end reported in each week between July 1 through July 7, and July 7 through July 14.
The Codiac Regional Policing Authority Map for the week of July 7 shows three reported incidents of property crime in the old west end, fewer crimes than residents say occurred. (Submitted CRPA)
Léger said crimes recounted at the meeting do not match with the crime statistics kept by the RCMP. This is because people don't always call the police, he said.
"Very few of these crimes were reported this summer. Because they're not reporting it doesn't really indicate to the RCMP that there's an issue there.
"So they're frustrated and the residents are frustrated."
Léger said getting the right data can help the RCMP understand where crime is happening and how best to curb it.
The idea of a neighbourhood watch was also raised at the meeting, with people in the community volunteering to start the process.
Didn't report bike thefts
Rhonda Bulmer, who lives in the neighbourhood, said she attended the meeting and learned the problem could be bigger than she thought.
"People were a lot more worried than I realized," she said.
Three bikes were stolen from her backyard three years ago. She didn't call the police because she didn't see the point, but she's since learned it's better to report even minor crimes.
Dianne Reddy said she likes seeing the community come together to make their own solutions because she likes her neighbourhood. She raised her children in her old west end home and lived there with her late husband.
She doesn't want to leave and hopes she doesn't have to.
some kid is going to get killed or badly injured and CBC along with everyone else will be up in arms because "it went too far" well...what do you expect when nothing is done to fix the problem?
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Jared Henderson: and it could also very well be this nice little old lady with the baseball bat. She does not look very scary, even with the bat.
Brazen break-in part of rash of thefts in Moncton's old west end
With a sinking feeling, Cathy Manuel woke to the sounds of someone in her old west end home
Cathy Manuel discovered a man broke into her Moncton house while she was sleeping. (Tori Weldon/CBC)
Cathy Manuel woke up to a man in her home in Moncton's old west end, in the latest of what residents are calling a rash of thefts in the neighbourhood.
Around 5 a.m., Manuel thought she heard someone downstairs. At first she assumed it must be her house guest.
"But the more I heard, the more I wondered, should I go down and check on him."
Once on the main floor, she noticed all the lights were on, all her cupboards and drawers were open, and the door to both her backyard and garage were wide open.
She followed the noise and ran out through her attached garage and saw someone on the sidewalk holding a bag. She yelled at the man, asking if he'd been in the house.
"Probably not the wisest decision, but when you're in that moment and somebody has compromised your security it's a decision you take."
He yelled back that it must have been someone else who was in her home, then he ran off.
Peter Ryan walks the streets of his his old west end neighbourhood in the early morning hours with his dog to let people know someone is watching. (Submitted by Peter Ryan)
The thief got in through the garage door, that Manuel had forgotten to close. She said there wasn't a lot stolen, just her debit card, which she cancelled.
"I think it would have been different if bikes were stolen from my garage, or I wasn't home and somebody came in, but the fact that I was home really is what bothered me."
But there were neighbours watching, and they called the police with a detailed descriptions of the thief.
"I think one of the most disheartening things, or concerning things was that my garden shears, the big shears that I would use to cut back my shrubs and trees was in my kitchen, so he would have taken it from my garage to maybe use as a weapon."
Neighbourhood watch
This isn't the first brazen break-in in the Old West End in recent months. Dianne Reddy said that in the last year she's had two sets of keys stolen out of her house while she was home.
Earlier this week, two Moncton city councillors and about 120 residents met to talk about the perceived rise in crime.
Coun. Charles Leger said a neighbourhood watch group is in the works. But in the meantime, he said, residents should make sure they report illegal activity to the police and reach out to other levels of government to let them know there are growing problems in the community that could have roots in homelessness and drug addiction.
Peter Ryan was at the meeting and said he'll be volunteering his time to help form the neighbourhood watch — walking the streets in the early hours of the morning is something he already does.
"I've got a big black dog, a big Belgian shepherd, and I'm going out there to sort of make sure a presence is known."
Numbers matter
He wears a yellow jacket and walks down the centre of the street, often with a friend, to try to prevent crime.
"We're not out there looking for confrontation. We're just out there to say that, "OK, we see you."
Ryan said he'll be meeting with other volunteers next week to talk about the best way to get a community watch going.
"[It's] only ever going to be as successful as the amount of participants involved," he said. "We need to have all hands on deck in this particular sense."
Insp. Luc Breton attended the old west end meeting this week and was surprised to hear how much petty crime was going unreported. (Tori Weldon/CBC)
Ryan walked around the neighbourhood for an hour and a half starting at 12:30 a.m. Friday. But despite his efforts, just across the street, Cathy Manuel had her house broken into.
Ryan woke up to Manuel yelling. He said he got dressed and went out to see what was happening. A number of RCMP cruisers pulled up, and a police dog was brought to help find the thief.
An arrest
Insp. Luc Breton, officer in charge of operations at Codiac RCMP, said an arrest was made. He said it's a good example of how the police can respond to crimes when they're called.
"It's kind of hard to find out about where to focus your manpower when you don't know what's going on in that area."
He was surprised at the amount of property crime that was going unreported. Breton said that since the meeting, RCMP have made an effort to show a bigger presence in the old west end. He said officers on bicycles have been patrolling the neighbourhood.
Breton said people can help by locking their doors, both to their car and homes. He said many crimes are committed by the same people.
"That's all they do."
Calling police
If police know what's going on, they can track "prolific offenders" more easily. But the victim should understand the police may not respond for a few hours.
"If there is an armed robbery taking place at the same time … we prioritize our call." Breton said he supports a neighbourhood watch program.
"We have to work together, the police alone cannot do it."
But Breton added that people shouldn't take the law into their own hands. He said if someone thinks a stranger is in their house they should go into a room with a phone, close the door and call the police.
