Larceny in JP on the Rise

By Beth Wolfson

JAMAICA PLAIN -- When Eunice Dunham went to her car the morning after the Patriots lost the Superbowl, she found her driver's side-window shattered and her iPod missing. Unfortunately for Dunham, a Jamaica Plain resident who parks her car in front of her Spring Street apartment, it was the second time someone had broken into her car and taken her iPod.

“I was really angry and frustrated,” Dunham said.

Police reported 154 thefts in JP between Jan. 1, 2008 and Feb. 24, 2008, compared to 101 reports for the same period in 2007. Most other crimes rates have dropped or remain the same.

“All of that (larceny) is GPS and iPod, believe me,” said Civilian Community Service Officer for the BPD Wallace Tilford, who is also the coordinator for Boston Crime Watches throughout the city. “It’s been a citywide problem, but it’s bad in JP.”

As early as this summer, the police in JP and the entire Boston area plan to introduce a program to relocate GPS devices.

“We are developing something to track them,” Tilford said, though he was unable to give any details on how the new tracking device would work. “It won’t be out until this summer, but it’s something that is going to happen.”

Residents and police officers say criminals target JP because it is being an upper-class part of the city.

“It’s a crime of opportunity, and in a nice area like JP, people know they can find these high-end items in the cars,” said Officer James Kenneally, a police spokesman. “That has been the only crime of note recently in the area.”

Police are trying to spread the word to community members about removing valuables from their vehicles. Community members have formed neighborhood crime watches to look out for one another’s cars and homes.

“It’s very important that the community comes together so we can give them information on staying safe and so people look out for one another,” said Officer Antonette Ramsay, a JP police officer.

Since 2006, larceny in JP has been increasing and residents like Dunham are frustrated by the police's inability to make arrests.

“I reported the crime both times, and to my knowledge, no one has been found,” Dunham said. “I was coming home the other day and my neighbor was cleaning glass from his car off the sidewalk. I see this pretty often, and it makes me feel less safe in my own home.”