EDMONDS — Like Dorothy’s terrier, Toto, in the “The Wizard of Oz,” downtown Edmonds merchants are having to face the fact they aren’t in Kansas anymore.
A wave of burglaries of service and retail businesses in the heart of Edmonds has eroded the innocence lingering among those who conduct business in this no-longer-small town. “We can’t have the innocent opinion that we won’t be targeted for break-ins,” said Autumn Kegley of Autumn’s Framing and Gallery. “It’s really sad, but true.”
Mid-March saw an upswing in burglaries and burglary attempts on or near the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Avenue, according to Robin Heslop, crime prevention officer for the Edmonds Police Department. Break-ins have occurred late at night or early in the morning.
In several cases, burglars gained entry into buildings and had varying degrees of success breaking into offices within them, according to the police. In these and cases involving individual businesses, perpetrators gained access through pried-open or unsecured doors or windows, Heslop said.
Laptop computers have been the main target, Heslop said, although desktop computers have disappeared, too. Petty cash also has been stolen.
Theft of items normally left outside shops overnight – such as decorative concrete benches – also has occurred recently.
Earlier this year, police logged reports of several restaurant break-ins in which alcohol was stolen. That is not necessarily the work of minors, Heslop said, especially when large quantities of alcohol are swiped.
Detective David Miller, who handles property crimes, said the recent rash of burglaries “is what we consider to be a spree … . Someone coming in, hitting us hard and moving on. Unless we catch them in the act, it’s very difficult.”
After a slight dip from 2005 to 2006, Miller noted that residential burglaries in Edmonds are on the uptick, too. The trend is “meth driven,” he said, referring to crimes committed for money by users of the illegal manufactured drug methamphetamine.
An investigation by Edmonds police into the downtown burglaries is in full swing. Officers on the night shifts, Heslop said, have “stepped it up and are doing nighttime door checks” of downtown businesses.
The spike in burglaries prompted Heslop to send out letters with security warnings and tips last week to downtown merchants. The Downtown Edmonds Merchants Association (DEMA) and Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce helped get the word out to their members.
Response to the letter was rapid and positive, Heslop said. She has either been contacted by or visited business owners who “all know now (about the need for better security measures). They already are taking measures. They are on top of it.”
Four business owners contacted for this article asked that they be neither quoted nor photographed for fear of attracting the wrong people’s attention.
“I just have this vague, unsettled feeling about saying I’m unsure whether my back door is secure enough,” said one owner whose business has a rear door that opens into an alley.
Mary Kay Sneeringer, owner of Edmonds Bookshop and president of DEMA, said the downtown merchants are a close-knit group that communicates well over concerns like this one.
As in the case of a spate of shoplifting in local stores last year, business owners, Sneeringer said, will be vigilant in their concern for their shops and those of their neighbors.
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