Vermont Police Investigate Local Break-Ins

On Tuesday, Feb. 12, the Department of Public Safety received two separate reports of burglaries to college faculty houses, one in Middlebury and one in Cornwall, which are currently under investigation by the Middlebury Police and the Vermont State Police.

In a campus-wide email on Feb. 13, Associate Dean of the College and Director of Public Safety Elizabeth Burchard reported that one of the residences was on South Main Street, near the Ralph Myhre Golf Course, and the other off of Route 125 in Cornwall. Both burglaries were committed by unknown perpetrators.

Currently, the Middlebury Police has not identified any suspects, although Middlebury Chief of Police Tom Hanley wrote in an email that the police have processed the scene for latent prints and other evidence.

“Burglaries such as this are not common in Middlebury,” wrote Hanley .

“There were a total of 19 burglaries in all of Middlebury in 2012, the lowest number in at least 30 years.”

“There is a growing problem in the outer county,” admitted Hanley, despite his optimism about the town of Middlebury itself. These two most recent incidents in Middlebury and Cornwall follow a spate of burglaries that have occurred recently in the northern end of Addison County.

According to the Addison County Independent, there were 16 reports of burglary in Addison County in the first four weeks of January. The Middlebury Police is considering the possibility that these recent events are linked to other incidents in Addison County. Hanley wrote that the Middlebury Police Investigator is collaborating with the State Police trooper who is working on the Cornwall burglary. By working together they hope to catch the perpetrators more efficiently.

Some Addison residents have noticed the apparent rise in burglaries. “I seem to be hearing about more and more burglaries than ever before,” commented Addison resident Don Jochum to the Addison County Independent.

The Vermont State Police has been working to implement more effective crime-fighting technology through the installation of Data-Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety, or DDACTS, according to the Addison County Independent. The technology should aid the police in limiting crime in the county.

“The hope of DDACTS is to go from being reactive to being proactive,” Lieutenant Gary Genova of New Haven said of the new technology.

The program allows police to submit crime reports to a database that then compiles them onto one large map. This allows them to better spot trends and gaps in police coverage across the state.

Although technology plays a role in keeping crime levels down, so do ordinary residents. In order to deter perpetrators, Hanley suggested that people remain vigilant, report suspicious activity and keep their homes secure.