Elgin police chief to meet residents over west-side burglaries

Several home and vehicle burglaries in two subdivisions on Elgin's west side prompted residents to ask the police chief to take part in a community meeting.

Seven home burglaries and four burglaries to vehicles took place the evening of July 3 into the early morning hours of July 4 in the Valley Creek and Country Knolls subdivisions, Elgin Police Comdr. Ana Lalley said.

The burglaries took place east of Randall Road, west of Lyle Avenue, south of the railroad tracks and north of Larkin Avenue.

In all but one case - in which a door to an empty home was forced open - the burglars gained entry via unlocked doors, including patio doors. In some cases, the residents were home, she said.

Items taken included small electronics, iPads, laptops and loose change.

The incidents prompted police to notify homeowners that evening via a "reverse 911" emergency phone call urging caution, Lalley said.

Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda will take part in the community meeting July 26 Lalley said.

The meeting will be at 1 p.m. outdoors near the intersection of Colorado Avenue and Royal Boulevard, said resident Danise Habun, a member of the police citizen advisory committee, who asked Swoboda to participate.

Habun said she wasn't a burglary victim, but she knows people who were, she said.

"I talked with neighbors last night who are understandably freaked out," she said.

Lalley said police are still investigating the burglaries.

"It does happen in certain neighborhoods were we get a rash of them, but I can't recall it happening there," she said.

For more information about the meeting, email dhabun@msn.com. Crime data is available at crimereports.com.