WEST DISTRICT BUSINESS BURGLARIES PLUMMET

THREE ARRESTS LINKED TO DROP

The number of commercial burglaries on Madison's Westside has dropped significantly, and West District Captain Jay Lengfeld says the arrest of three men appears to have made a major dent in what had become a concerning crime trend. For example, in December of 2007 there were 61 commercial burglaries reported in the West District. This past December (2008) there were only five. Here are the statistics: Month/Year Number of Burglaries Nov '07 43 Dec '07 61 Jan '08 34 Feb 35 March 24 April 24 May 16 June 30 July 20 August 16 September 15 October 5 November 5 December 5 West District detectives have indicated office suite burglaries, which were fueling many of the high number months, came to a stop when the last of three main burglary suspects was arrested last year. As often is the case, a relatively small number of suspects can cause significant spikes in crime.