Lake County residents alerted to burglaries

Local police want residents to be wary of suspicious activity in their neighborhoods in light of continuing reports of burglaries that show no sign of a lull.

A break-in on Saturday prompted Vernon Hills police to issue the notice. That incident was similar to a number of other burglaries previously reported in Vernon Hills, Buffalo Grove, Mundelein and Libertyville.

"It roughly goes back about two years that these same types of burglaries have been occurring," said Rick Davies, commander of investigations for Vernon Hills police.

Similarities include the fact that the burglars force entry through a window or door and that large items are not targeted.

"The focus appears to be on jewelry," Davies said.

In Vernon Hills, the burglars concentrate mainly on the master bedroom and den and the incidents seem to happen most often between 1 and 10 p.m. The majority of the break-ins have occurred in the Gregg's Landing and Grosse Pointe subdivisions.

No one was at home in any of the cases but it does not appear the targets had been under surveillance.

"They could just be gone running an errand or going to dinner," Davies said.

Value of the items taken has ranged from $50 to $20,000, according to Davies.

Residents should be aware of suspicious activity or vehicles and should not hesitate to call police if something is amiss, he added.

"They know their neighborhoods best," he said.

The burglaries have been a topic of discussion during periodic meetings among investigators from various towns.

"They're not taking the big things off the wall, they're taking small things. For the most part it's been jewelry and cash," said Buffalo Grove police Cmdr. Steve Husak.

A burglary reported Tuesday, for example, had some similarities but Husak was uncertain whether it was related to the others.

Vernon Hills police said there have been 13 home burglaries during past 23 months.

"Going back two years, you're looking at close to 120 in those four towns," said Davies, who has been the point man on these occurrences for the communities.

"I've put a lot of time into this investigation as well as the other folks here and the other departments," he said.

There is no way to definitively tell whether the burglaries were being done by a specific group of individuals but there are similarities among the reports, he added.