Virginia and Bruce Maguire of 297 St. George report suspicious activity around their property in the middle of the night, 2 nights ago. Virginia noticed that a back porch light which had been lighting properly every night was not lighting. The light bulb was a long life LED lightbulb which had been changed 2 months before and had been working up until two night ago. When Bruce checked on the light yesterday, he found that the lightbulb had been unscrewed, and that the lightbulb worked fine once it had been screwed back in. Important to note that neither Virginia nor Bruce had touched the back porch light fixture since replacing the bulb two months before. Virginia believes that a prowler had very likely been on their property two nights before and had unscrewed the lightbulb to move about the property unseen. Their dogs had also barked in the middle of the night on that same evening. Virginia and Bruce will be reporting the incident to SAPD.

Deanna and Jim Kelly 0f 321 Charlotte also report a suspicious incident last week. One night Jim thought he had heard some outside noises and looked out the back door and at the carport. He didn’t see anything unusual and went back to bed. The next morning Deanna found some minor things rearranged on their front veranda. Jim has since checked it a few times at night but has not seen anything suspicious. However Jim did see a homeless person opening mail boxes a few weeks ago. He did report that to the police.

It is important to stay vigilant, especially during the summer, when many of our neighbors are away, and to take such reports seriously. According to Chief Barry Fox, SAPD, who spoke at the Sunday, July 8 meeting of the Neighborhood Council of Saint Augustine, theft, though down overall in Saint Augustine, remains a problem in Saint Augustine neighborhoods. Chief Fox noted that theft tends to be a crime of opportunity, and that the best defense against it is to take preventive measures that remove those opportunities:

• Lock your doors and windows at night and when you are not at home,
• Lock your garage doors,
• Lock the door between your house and garage if you have an attached garage,
• Do not leave articles like bicycles, garden hoses etc. out in your yard
• Do not leave valuables in your car
• And particularly, lock your car.
• If you see something, say something. Don’t fail to report suspicious activity.

Unlocked cars are particularly problematic. Chief Fox reports that the number one article reported stolen from cars are firearms. Thieves can also gain entrance to homes via garage door openers left in cars if the door between the garage and the house has been left unlocked. Chief Fox noted that few residents consistently lock the door between their attached garage and their house. According to Chief Fox, doing the above things consistently will go a long way to reducing theft in the neighborhoods.
Stay safe.