Watch CBS News

Home Burglaries Have Naperville Residents On Edge

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (CBS) -- There is growing frustration in Naperville about an out of control number of home burglaries in the last several weeks.

CBS 2's Mike Parker reports neighbors are getting together, to try to find a way to stop the crime.

The burglars are hitting Naperville all over town. They've taken cash, iPads, iPhones, coin collections and even dragged a heavy safe out of a house.

"We have a combination of both burglaries with force as well as non-force and some of them are nighttime as well as daytime," said Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall.

The crime wave drew more than 300 people to a community meeting Wednesday night and they are on edge.

"We're a very tight-knit neighborhood and we keep watch on everybody who is coming in and who is coming out and when we see strange people we kind of wonder 'Ok are they the ones that are doing this or not?'" said resident Alma Dominguez.

One of the heists was in Ellen Lucke's neighborhood.

"A neighbor two doors down is a retired police officer who spends all of his spare time sitting in the garage and keeping watch over the neighborhood. If these thieves got around him, they must look pretty normal and not suspicious," said Ellen Lucke.

Wednesday night's crowd heard about what active police officers are doing.

"We've deployed a number of police officers from other assignments to work the neighborhood. We use a combination of marked as well as unmarked patrols," said Chief Marshall.

Police are urging people to lock their doors and windows and especially their garage doors.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.