The approaching winter season’s cool temperatures can lead to an increase in certain crimes, prompting the Tempe Police Department to release its “Winter Crimes” Operation last week, officials said.

Focusing on burglaries and vehicle theft, the operation was developed and will be monitored by the Tempe Police Crime Suppression Team. It will last through the end of January.

The Tempe Police want residents to be careful when they leave doors and windows open during the cooler season.

Statistical analysis over the last five years by the department’s Crime Analysis Unit has shown “peaks” of crime during different seasons, Patrol Cmdr. Vince Boerbon said.

“We are all going to make a concentrated effort to focus on these crimes,” Boerbon said. “We have had success.”

He described the program as a way to “use your resources smarter.”
The Crime Suppression Team is dedicated to crime fighting and being creative in the process, Boerbon said.

On the ASU campus, the focus on vehicle thefts is a year-round function, said Officer Brian Kiefling with the Crime Prevention Unit at ASU.

“[Thieves] are going to use whatever the easiest way is,” Kiefling said. “We get a lot of windows that are just pulled out.”

During the summer, thieves use the slightly-lowered windows to break into cars, he said.

With a new honors complex and other living areas near the Rural Road Parking Structure, ASU Police has seen more vehicle thefts, he said.
“We have been trying to train students not to leave anything in the cab of the car,” he said.

The increase in thefts during the winter could be due to an increase in the local population, which is a combination of snowbirds and their families as well as the transient population that comes to the Valley, Kiefling said.

Boerbon said 90 percent of crime is committed by 10 percent of the population, who are generally repeat offenders.

“We’ve been using this model for a couple years now, and it has been successful,” he said. “Bad guys don’t care about block watch anymore. Criminals get smarter.”

Tempe Police Sgt. Steve Carbajal said residents need to use common sense when leaving doors and windows open during the next few months.

The department suggests locking doors at all times, using deadbolt locks in all entryways, not relying on an automatic garage door opener and using an overhead lock and inscribing identifying numbers on valuable items, he said.

“We are trying to proactively educate the public,” Carbajal said.
The department used to focus on different crimes on a month-by-month basis, but now has moved to a more seasonal calendar.

“It gives us a little more time to focus on certain crimes,” Carbajal said.

Tempe Police is asking people to be smart to prevent thefts and other crimes in their homes.

“We are just trying to get the word out there,” Carbajal said.

Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu