Burglaries in Gorham rose a whopping 48 percent last year, and residents are scrambling to organize crime watches.
“A neighborhood watch – the only investment is your time,” Gorham’s Officer Ted Hatch told a gathering of 60 people last week at a neighborhood meeting at Cressey Road United Methodist Church.
Police at the meeting said burglaries last year in Gorham rose to 96, up from 65 in 2008. Gorham Police Chief Ron Shepard Tuesday cited unemployment – “some normally working are not” – as one of likely causes of the spike in burglaries.
“People wanting drugs, selling what they get to purchase drugs,” Shepard said.
“As the economy goes down, we get busier,” Hatch told the neighborhood meeting.
Two recent home break-ins galvanized the Flaggy Meadow Road neighborhood into forming a crime- watch group.
In last week’s meeting, Hatch named Linda Faatz of Flaggy Meadow Road as the “No. 1 block captain.”
Faatz, who initiated the crime-watch group, is distributing a police informational booklet and a letter she wrote to her neighbors along Flaggy Meadow Road.
“I wrote a letter. I told them what was happening on this street,” Faatz said Tuesday.
In her letter, Faatz wrote, “Hopefully you will share contact information with your trusted neighbors that live nearby and stay in touch with them. Let each other know when you are going away. Keep a constant eye out for any suspicious activity around your neighborhood.”
She hopes other Gorham neighborhoods will form similar groups. “They could get this whole town going – neighborhood by neighborhood,” Faatz said.
Flaggy Meadow Road runs to Groveville in Buxton from Route 25 in Gorham Village. “Buxton, Standish – everyone is having problems,” Faatz said.
Shepard said burglars are looking for drugs, jewelry, electronics and guns. Those are items burglars can easily carry off, Shepard said.
Shepard said news of residents forming a crime watch group spreads. “Word travels among crooks, too,” Shepard said.
Sgt. Mike Nault said a crime-watch group with a posted sign in the Jonathan and Daniel streets neighborhood has been effective.
“We haven’t had any burglaries in that area – recently anyway,” Nault said in the meeting. “It’s a deterrent.”
Faatz said the town would soon post crime-watch signs in her neighborhood.
Gorham Police Department has 10 patrol officers, five sergeants and two detectives covering about 50 square miles. Gorham officers patrol more than 150 miles in Gorham of state and local roads, more than the distance between Portland and Worcester, Mass. In 2009, police handled 18,700 calls for service.
“We’re staffed at what’s authorized,” Shepard said.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated in 2008 Gorham had a population of 15,563, a 10 percent increase from 14,141 in the 2000 census.
To beef up neighborhood patrols, Volunteers in Police Service members are augmenting Gorham police. Shepard said the volunteers, a force numbering 30 between Gorham and Standish, would soon be patrolling Gorham in a vehicle. Shepard said a primary duty for volunteers would be house checks for vacationing residents.
A majority of the group that met with police last week lived on Flaggy Meadow Road, but others attending included residents of Narragansett, North and Robie streets.
Police recommended that homes be secured with dead bolts on doors.
“Lock your doors, lock your windows,” Hatch said.
Police advised residents returning home not to enter if they suspect the home has been burglarized, and not to touch doorknobs. They should use cell phones to call police.
“Never try to be a hero,” Hatch said. “Be the best witness you can be.”
Residents should get descriptions of suspicious individuals, such as the height, weight, hair color, age and clothing of the person. And note license plate numbers, makes and models of vehicles and number of occupants.
“Have a mindset to be aware,” Hatch said.
Nault said Gorham has had several robberies in broad daylight. Burglars case neighborhoods before selecting a target. Someone knocking on a door could be a burglar, he said, and such an incident should be reported for police to check it out.
“With your help,” Faatz wrote to her neighbors,“our neighborhood area will be a safer place to live. ‘Be prepared, not paranoid.’”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
