On a rainy Friday afternoon Shreveport police patrolled the streets to prevent property crime, specifically house burglaries.
"Before it gets out of hand they haven't had that many," said Cpl. Joel Davidson, a Community Response Unit Officer with the Shreveport Police Department. He carries a list of businesses and homes in the Highland area that have already been targeted by criminals. Police use it as intelligence to target the criminals who are targeting neighborhoods.
"We ride around there try to find a pattern, sometimes you might see where they start on some streets and move towards one direction or towards the other," said Cpl. Davidson.
To proactively prevent crime CPU's respond to a specific area looking for suspicious activity. "People with backpacks, normally grownups don't carry backpacks so they carry burglary tools in," said Cpl. Davidson.
Police often interact with neighbors and believe it's a big part of being proactive.
During our ride along Cpl. Davidson sees two men carrying something to a car, and while he wasn't overly suspicious, he still initiated a conversation with them. As fast as it takes to have a brief conversation, and check a driver's license, all suspicions were removed, and Cpl. Davidson was onto the next street.
SPD is also operating a vehicle burglaries detail that is operated overnight. It's in response to the recent 30% jump in vehicle burglaries over the last few months compared to this time last year.
Police say three things have to happen for any crime: Desire, ability, and opportunity. So the police department reminds citizens that while you can't do anything about desire, and ability, you can do something about opportunity by taking a few precautions. Almost 50% of the recently targeted vehicles were unlocked, so lock your doors. Never leave valuables in your vehicle, and try to park in well lit areas.
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