July was another relatively quiet month in the Center. There were no noteworthy crimes to report, which is good news.

We did have 11 residential burgs this month. Our average is 9. There is nothing remarkable about the number of burglaries. I mention them because five were break-ins to sheds or garages. As I have mentioned in the past, burglaries to sheds and garages usually occur in the middle of the night when we are sleeping. The thieves are usually, not always, drug addicts who are looking to steal tools, lawn mowers or anything of value, to sell for drug money.

In some of these burgs, the shed or garage door was left open or unlocked. In other cases the thief broke open the door or cut the lock. The moral of this story is to lock the door of your shed or garage with a heavy duty lock and don't leave valuables, such as power tools, in the shed or garage. Keep the valuables in a place where the thief is less likely to get into - such as in the house.

On the proactive side of police work in the Center, we arrested 42 people for warrants, four people for driving under the influence, seven people for felony drug possession, one person for prostitution and we towed 14 abandoned cars. There were 19 reported shoplifts, which is a little high. We average about 12 a month.

We had two commercial burglaries. One was to a fireworks stand and the other was to the El Rincon on 16th. In that case the suspect forced open the back door in the middle of the night and took the cash register. We had another fairly good month for car thefts with only 16. Our average is 28 per month.

On the construction side of the Center, the county has been repaving many of the streets, including First Avenue, which makes the community look a little better.

Remember to do your part to make the Center a better place to live and work, keep an eye out for your neighbor, be involved and take an interest in your community.

Steve Cox is the White Center Storefront deputy and can be reached at 423 0393.