Quincy sees a rise in burglaries; Local church impacted

• In June, Quincy experienced seven burglaries which is up more than 37% from around the same time last year.
• Quincy Police Department is addressing the issue by increasing patrols in neighborhoods the most impacted.
• Watch the video to hear one local church leader talk about what thieves stole from them.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Look at this.

Burglaries in this neighborhood have increased by a little over 37% and neighbors I spoke to say that number is extremely high for a small community like this.

I'm Ashley Engle your Quincy neighborhood reporter. I'm driving around the neighborhoods where these incidents are happening and finding out why neighbors have concerns.

"It’s hard when you go out and you work hard for whatever you want, and someone just come and take it"

Burglaries have been on the rise in the Quincy neighborhood

Gwendolyn Costilla knows that firsthand.

"Here at the church, we've had our ac unit stolen from outside."

A necessity, Gwen says is definitely needed especially during this time of the year.

"Trying to cool off a big building with ceiling fans is kind of difficult."

I showed Gwen Quincy Police Departments latest numbers on burglaries in this neighborhood.

Back in June, Quincy experienced seven.

Neighbors agree...that's a lot for community.

"It's not fair"

So, I took her and other neighbor's concerns to Carlos Hill. Quincy police departments interim chief.

"What are you as a police department going to do to decrease these numbers?"

"We started increasing our patrols in that area. We moved some traffic and surveillance cameras in those areas. So now that we honed that in in certain districts now, we're really going to focus in on district one."

Interim chief Carlos Hill says these burglaries are happening in the west side of the neighborhood in district one.

Vehicles and homes are the targets.

QPD’s crime report says they had six motor vehicle thefts last month in the whole city, district one had one total.

"If you have a firearm, please do not leave it in your vehicle unsecured because that is a crime opportunity."

As police investigate, neighbors like Gwen will be keeping a watchful eye on the community.

"Someone else to feel like it’s their right to come take it when it’s not theirs its wrong you know."

QPD says if you see something say something you can call or report anything to their website. Most importantly, don't forget to lock your doors.