BANGOR, Maine — Police continue to investigate a rash of burglaries in Bangor that have occurred over the past several months, and more neighbors are organizing to watch out for each other.
Residents of Bangor sat down with several members of the Police Department, including Chief Mark Hathaway, on Wednesday night at the police station to learn what to look out for, according to Gretchen Schaefer, a McLaughlin Street resident.
At the meeting, residents got a look at a map plotting the locations of nearly 20 burglaries that police believe are connected. They stretch from Silver Road on the west side to Little City near St. Joseph Hospital on the east side.
Schaefer said police told residents that they believed the suspect or suspects were active primarily from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.
The department has offered a few tips: Lock all doors and windows, and keep an eye out for people walking in and out of driveways and anything that seems out of place. Outdoor lighting serves as a strong deterrent.
Police say that if your home is burglarized, don’t touch anything that the perpetrator might have touched — including open doors or windows — because an investigator might be able to gather evidence.
Schaefer said when her neighbor became a victim of a burglary, the intruder snuck in through a small window over the sink and only took money and left behind pocketbooks and wallets.
Someone also tried to get into her house, but Schaefer’s husband scared off the person after hearing him in the yard.
Bangor already has a west side neighborhood watch, but Schaefer said she is working with neighbors to organize more people on the “upper” west side, which has been the target of several recent break-ins.
Residents of Bangor’s east side formed a neighborhood watch group in 2012.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.