Crime Tracker: Burglaries Up West of Prosser

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By Molly Kelleher

Story Published: Jul 29, 2010 at 9:56 PM PDT

BENTON COUNTY -- The KEPR Crime Tracker uncovered a new trend. This time we tracked the numbers and found an outbreak of burglaries on county land near Prosser.

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You move out to the county for the space but also for the quiet. It is the farmland outside of Prosser. And even though it seems like a quiet spot, this is also becoming a hot spot for crime.

Richard Dorsett called Action News because he's worried about what's happening out here.

"My neighbor's house got ransacked," said Dorsett,

And the numbers prove there is a problem. KEPR looked at the reports for burglary from the first half of this year and compared those to the same time last year. They rose from 48 burglaries to 58. That's an increase of nearly 20 percent.

When KEPR took a closer look at the numbers, we also noticed a spike in the past few weeks.

Benton County Lt. Joe Lusignan showed KEPR the burglaries on a map; it is what detectives are using to investigate these crimes. There's not a concentrated area but you can tell by all the dots there's a problem. Most of of the burglaries are happening in broad daylight

"People are knocking on doors seeing if anyone is home. If they answer they just say they are looking for some fictitious name and move to the next house. If no one is home they'll check to see if the door is unlocked or just break in," said Lusignan.

That's what prompted this call for help. Neighbors need to start paying more attention. There is an outbreak of burglaries and cops need you to help them catch the crooks.

The Benton County Sheriff's department also assigned more deputies to this area to protect you. And if you see someone suspicious take note of the car and license plate and call police.

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