MILLINOCKET, Maine — Police warned business owners Monday to leave their establishments well-lit with doors secured to help them catch what they suspect is a crew of as many as four burglars responsible for nine break-ins since July 12.
The most recent burglaries, Police Chief Don Bolduc said, were reported Monday. The owners of a downtown automotive repair and supply shop and a nearby business reported Monday morning having been hit sometime overnight Sunday or during the weekend.
Investigators are working to determine how much money was taken but suspect the two break-ins are connected to the rest.
“Someone or people unknown are targeting small businesses, gaining access relatively easily through doors and areas not well-lit,” Bolduc said. “I think they are casing businesses, and if there is an opportunity to access a business without an alarm or surveillance cameras, and if they can access them without people seeing them, they do it.”
The burglaries seem to occur from dusk to dawn. They typically involve the forcing of doors that lack deadbolts at small businesses around town, occur in low-traffic areas, and result in the theft of small amounts of cash left in cash registers. Sometimes registers have been forced open, Bolduc said.
The burglars seem to be ignoring items that could be pawned in favor of stealing money. Between $500 to $1,000 has been taken in total so far, Bolduc said. Investigators have no suspects and only a few leads, he said.
He encouraged anyone who might have seen suspicious activity to report it to police at the police station or by calling 723-9731.
“If we get that information in a timely manner, we would follow up and sometimes we get information from one person that matches what we get from another,” Bolduc said. “The little pieces of information we get sometimes help us to get the puzzle together that much faster.”
Millinocket Downtown Revitalization Committee spokeswoman Anita Mueller, co-owner of Moose Prints Gallery and Gifts on Central Street, said she was unaware of the burglaries. She referred comment to committee member Marsha Donahue, co-owner of North Light Gallery on Penobscot Avenue.
Donahue said she had just heard about the break-ins from a Millinocket police officer on Monday and expressed dismay.
“I don’t think this is unusual. This is scary,” Donahue said, adding that she was reviewing her business’s security measures with her husband, Wayne, who co-owns the gallery.
If police think certain businesses “might be a target we are making a point of talking to them and telling them what they should do to prevent that from happening,” Bolduc said.
Several downtown groups, including her own, have discussed improving lighting to make the downtown safer and more welcoming, but not much has happened, Donahue said.
“That is something that has always been in the plans going back even five years,” Donahue said. “They have been talking about more and better lighting because a better-lit downtown is a safer downtown.”
Investigators suspect that the burglars are low-tech but somewhat savvy. They seem to be monitoring police movements and are employing counter-surveillance techniques, with lookouts watching for passers-by as the burglaries occur. They typically target back doors or darkened stores, often leaving doors open as they flee, Bolduc said.
“With some of these cases, they need somebody watching to make sure they are not interrupted,” Bolduc said.
Visibility into the rear of the automotive business, Bolduc said, was obscured by a fence and the lack of rear lighting, while the nearby business also targeted Monday was burglarized through the front door.
The brazenness of hitting a business through a front door indicates counter-surveillance, Bolduc said.
Businesspeople should take as many precautions against burglaries, Bolduc said, including:
• Ensuring that the inside and exterior of their businesses are brightly lit, preferably with motion-sensor lighting outside and bright lights to the rear of the business on the inside.
“Outside lighting would have made a lot of difference in some of these cases,” Bolduc said.
• Locking all door locks and installing surveillance cameras, alarms or extra locks on doors. Most of the businesses have had door locks but only within the door handles.
• Emptying cash registers before the businesses close and leaving the empty registers open. Open, empty registers are not pried open, Bolduc said.
Businesses usually have reported burglaries within four to eight hours, Bolduc said.
Police say they are stepping up their overnight work to catch the burglars.