Swarm Of “Kick-In” Burglaries Rattle Danville

While locals were enjoying the down-time afforded by a Holiday Weekend it appears local burglars were hard at work, entering or attempting to enter at least six homes in Danville.

Police Chief Steve Simpkins said his officers are investigating three confirmed residential burglaries and one unsuccessful attempt from Saturday.

“We are working on a few more reported today so I don’t have an exact total yet,” the chief said in a written contact Sunday.

The chief said one attempted burglary failed thanks to the alarm system scaring off the bad guy – an “important note” as the chief points out – while the other three were “door kicks” of unoccupied residences with the take being concealable valuables.

We have not yet heard if this “burglary flurry” was confined to the town or extended to other parts of the 24/680, but we’ll update with additional information as more residents come home or police report them.

Calls and emails from Danville residents alerted us to weekend break-ins, and readers are justifiably angry and concerned.

The count, as we have it so far:

• Friday, 10 p.m. – Door to a home on Mariposa Ct. forced and the house entered. Police search did not turn up suspects. Unknown take.
• Saturday, 3 p.m. – Front doors to homes on Camino Amigo and Sinnet Ct. were kicked in and the houses entered. Unknown take. No suspects.
• Saturday, 7 p.m. – Burglary reported at a home on Ferncroft Court after he resident returned to find the home had been entered. Unknown take. No suspects.
• Saturday, 10 p.m. – Burglar alarm sounds on Camino Amigo Dr. Danville police arrive to find front door kicked in. Unknown take. No suspects.
• Sunday, 7 a.m. – House-sitter returns to home on St. Norbert Dr. and finds front door kicked in. Unknown take. No suspects.

Chief Simpkins said his department has been deploying extra patrol cars for the last several weeks and will continue to do so and has been using crime data to deploy the extra officers strategically – which has been “helpful.”

“We do have some active leads in several cases reported this month and have already recovered stolen property in one of the cases earlier this month,” Simpkins wrote. “We have the county crime lab helping us process evidence in several cases. We’ve been using our team of VIPs to increase our visibility and to give extra support to our “If I was a Thief” program – proactively looking for potential targets for bad guys.”

The chief said the weekend spike in property crime is “extremely frustrating for our residents and for us – we are committed to doing everything we can to overcome this issue.”