Latest Weather Blog
Burglaries increase near Webb Park
Related Story
BATON ROUGE- A small neighborhood just off College Drive has seen a recent rash of burglaries according to residents.
Jim Gillen rents a house near Webb Park where someone ripped apart a window and made off with a small fortune last week.
"They stole two Rolex watches, a couple of guns and some computer stuff. [The renter] told the police it was about $17,000 worth of stuff," he said.
Gillen said he knows of at least half a dozen other recent burglaries on his street.
A few doors down, homeowner Elliott Boudreaux said a friend's truck window was shot out in February with the contents being stolen. Since then, he's installed cameras.
"What I'm worried about is it's going to be in our homes," he said. "It's going to be home burglaries which could lead to home invasions and someone could get really hurt from this."
According to Open Data BR, a Baton Rouge government statistic website, there were 34 home and auto burglaries from March to May of this year. That's up from 17 from the same time in 2016.
Recently, the residents had a community meeting about the crime hike. "We realized we don't have any coverage. Everyone else has their own crime districts but we don't have anything," said Boudreaux.
Now the homeowners are trying to organize their own crime district to increase police patrols.
Gillen just wants the burglaries to stop. "Hopefully this guy will get caught but if he keeps it up someone will end up shooting him."
News
