Prairie Village is seeing an uptick in burglaries. The suspects are mostly people not from the area, targeting open cars and garages.
Having enough officers to tackle the crime, however, is an issue.
The department was severely understaffed earlier in the year, Patrol Commander Captain Byron Roberson said. They stepped up recruitment efforts and it helped get their numbers up a little bit, but it's not enough.
"We spend what we have to, and we hire our own police officers to work overtime to fill spots, so we have spent a lot of money on overtime putting the officers who are here on the streets to curtail some of these problems we're having," Roberson said.
PV Police trying to step up recruitment, having to pay lots of OT to deal w burglary uptick @41ActionNews pic.twitter.com/UlXEgsns1A
— Sarah Plake (@SarahPlakeTV) August 31, 2016
He said they pay several hours of overtime a week to make sure they have ample police presence.
In a ride along, Officer Adam Taylor told 41 Action News that they're still doing special operations and stepped up enforcement despite the staffing shortage.
"At the same time, overtime is big," Taylor said.
To help everyone out, the department urges residents to not be an easy target. That means locking all garage doors, car doors, back doors and front doors.
"Most times, nine out of 10 times, it is a vehicle that is already unopened, and that's what our burglars are looking for," Roberson said. "They're not trying to make a lot of noise."
In early August, police busted two suspects behind a string of more than a dozen car burglaries. The two young men stole a Land Rover, leading Prairie Village police on a high-speed chase, ending in a bad crash just inches from a resident's home. One of the suspects was badly injured and is still in the hospital.
Simply locking doors, police say, will prevent bad things from happening.
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Sarah Plake can be reached at Sarah.Plake@KSHB.com
