Prince William County break-ins surging as pandemic winds down
WOODBRIDGE, Va. - Burglaries are up in Prince William County including home break ins as people return to work amid the coronavirus pandemic and lifted restrictions.
Police are urging residents to close and lock all doors, windows and garage doors when not being used.
Prince William County police say residents should also consider installing video surveillance and an alarm system, preferably one that can be accessed remotely.
This comes amid an increase in breaking and entering crimes county wide as people return to the workplace.
A user’s video posted on Ring’s neighbors app reportedly shows three men, seen in the video breaking a window to get in, not thinking the resident was home.
You can see the three men are masked and rummaging through items.
Prince William County police say they report incidents like this to cityprotect.com where it shows property crimes and theft, specifically breaking and entering are up compared to this time last year.
In June of 2020 there were 10 break ins reported.
In February 2021 there were 12.
In March 2021, there were 15 and in April that number jumps to 24 across the county — that’s according to cityprotect.com.
As many return to work and no longer work from home, police suggest residents install exterior motion sensor lights and maintain equal lighting around the house.
Police also say keep trees and shrubs trimmed back from windows.
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The break in seen on Ring’s Neighbor’s app reportedly took place at 4:45-am.
Police also suggest residents install a quality deadbolt that extends at least one inch into the door frame.