Darlington
Shed burglary warning
POLICE in Darlington are warning residents to ensure their sheds are secure after a dramatic rise in thefts from outbuildings.
The warning comes as during March the number of burglaries from non-domestic buildings in the town rose by 26 per cent.
The majority of these thefts have been in the eastern area of Darlington.
Police believe that the rise may be a seasonal trend due to the onset of the warmer months and an increased demand for gardening tools.
They are urging residents to, 'Use your head and lock your shed'.
Nearly half of all the non-domestic dwelling burglaries reported were in a shed or garage and 24 out of the 27 most-recently reported have been in the eastern area of town - near Yarm Road, Neasham Road, Geneva Road and Parkside.
Community inspector Caroline Dawson, from Darlington police, said: "In particular last week there were five premises in Geneva Road which were broken into.
"They were all in a row and all backed on to a railway line.
"They are going for gardening equipment such as lawnmowers and tools, obviously it'll become more valuable over the summer period in terms of selling that equipment on.
"A little while ago we had a problem with sat-navs and now it's sheds.
"They go for what they can get the most money for."
The majority of sheds were broken into by having their locks cropped.
It is believed that the majority of the thefts are done by opportunist burglars.
Insp Dawson urged everyone to make sure they had good quality locks on the doors of their sheds and outbuildings and, if possible, to invest in a shed alarm.
She also urged anyone who has any information about the break-ins to contact the police.
Insp Dawson added: "A lot of the equipment is quite large so we think these people would have used a vehicle.
"If anybody has seen anyone acting suspiciously or has any information we'd really like to hear from them."
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Darlington police on 0845 60 60 365.
3:05pm Monday 5th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Sandra Longstaff on 8:20pm Tue 6 May 08
I think you will find that Geneva Road does not back onto a railway line but Geneva Drive does. So was it Geneva Drive and not Geneva Road these thefts occured.
I think you will find that Geneva Road does not back onto a railway line but Geneva Drive does. So was it Geneva Drive and not Geneva Road these thefts occured.
Posted by: DaveH, darlington on 9:20am Fri 9 May 08
hmmm.... lead theft up, shed and outbuilding burglaries up.... appleby fair on soon, lots of 'travelers' about.... you do the maths...
hmmm.... lead theft up, shed and outbuilding burglaries up.... appleby fair on soon, lots of 'travelers' about.... you do the maths...
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
