Home Burglarized on Alphabet Streets While Owners Home

Another brazen burglary took place on Galloway Avenue in the Alphabet Streets between 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday, January 22, and 5:45 a.m. on January 23.
The Los Angeles Police Department reported that the suspect entered the victims’ home through a kitchen door, taking a purse, wallet and set of vehicle keys to a new van.
The suspect then exited the home and took the van. The homeowners and their two children were upstairs at the time of the break in. When one of the homeowners left the next morning, they discovered the van was missing and called police.
“According to the report, the victim assumedly went to sleep about 8:45 p.m. on the 22nd or were home at that time,” LAPD Senior Officer Michael Moore explained to the Post. “The next day, the victim noticed the purse missing in the kitchen, which had the vehicle keys inside.”
According to the report, the suspect entered through the kitchen rear entrance and that the deadbolt was likely unsecured, as there was no evidence of lock picking, though the criminal may have been able to jimmy the lock.
“Typically, criminals will resort to smashing windows if they want to get in and aren’t able to pick a lock or enter through an unlocked door,” Moore added. “There is no evidence they had an alarm in place, and if they did, it was not activated or did not go off at the time of the incident.”
The recent break in follows on the heels of a holiday crime spike that swept Pacific Palisades with burglaries, thefts and break ins.
“A lot of residents in the Alphabet Streets have been asking me what’s going on,” Pacific Palisades Community Council Area 5 Representative Sue Kohl told the Post. “They’re wondering why there’s so much in our neighborhood and if there’s anything they can do about it. My feeling is that our neighborhood is susceptible because we’re so close to Sunset Boulevard, and when crimes are committed and the perpetrators can get away easily, it makes us better targets than other areas that are further up in the hills.”
Dogs, alarm systems and video surveillance cameras are necessary to keep your home safe, according to Kohl, though some provide more security than others.
“I tell people you need to have an alarm system and turn it on,” Kohl said. “I don’t walk around the block with my dogs without turning on the alarm. I also believe in having a dog that will bark, though not everyone can or wants to do that.”
With the recent van theft, Kohl also advises residents to get a key fob protector.
“I bought a fob protector on Amazon because burglars can now go around with devices that communicate with car key fobs and unlock the cars,” Kohl said. “My car was broken into three different times—people think they forget to lock their cars, when sometimes they’re just using these devices. I keep my fob protector in my purse.”
Unfortunately, these security measures don’t always prevent a burglary or break in. Many of the homes victimized during the holiday crime spike had security systems and dogs.
“The problem with alarm systems is that once the alarm goes off, these criminals know they have a good five minutes to go through the house before anyone from the alarm company shows up,” Kohl said. “Police take a lot longer, but the reason is that the police are spread so thin.
“I think the main thing we can do to keep people safe is keep an eye out for each other and our neighbors, whether that’s a formal neighborhood watch or something informal, like texting to confirm somebody’s supposed to be home, or calling if you see anything weird. I’ll text my neighbor and say, ‘Is a guy supposed to be at your house today?’ … More than ever we really have to look out for each other.”