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Crime on the rise during holiday season

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By Ryan Gauthier, Staff Writer 8:31 PM Monday, November 23, 2009

Thanksgiving may conjure up feelings of togetherness and family for some, but for Middletown police it means one thing: crime.

Det. Steve Winters said financial crimes increase in the days before Thanksgiving. Reported criminal activity peaks around mid-December, then subsides in January, Winters said.

“Anyone will tell you the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the worst times to be a fraud detective,” Winters said. “People are out more, spending more and doing more. For an opportunist, this is the perfect time.”

Winters advises people to be wary of their surroundings over the holidays, as it does not take much time or effort to steal a credit card or bank account number. Technology is a blessing in many ways, but he said it can also be a hindrance.

“We had a detective eating at Bob Evans who caught a gentleman standing behind a woman in line, thumbing her credit card number onto his cell phone,” he said. “I suggest people keep their card face down until someone can scan it, then put it away as quickly as possible.”

Merchandise thefts are also on the rise, according to Logan Buriff, loss prevention manager at the Sears on Towne Boulevard. While criminal activity is typically up this time of year, he said the weak economy is partially to blame.

“From what I’ve seen it’s mostly people who have been laid off or seen their workload decrease,” Buriff said. “Talking with other people in loss prevention, everyone is saying that (crime) has increased a lot over the last week or two.”

Buriff said his store in particular has seen a lot of juveniles taking clothes and electronics, including GPS devices and iPods.

“This year seems a bit worse than last year, but every year around the holidays it really picks up,” Buriff said.

Winters cautioned against a number of schemes that surface this time of year, including counterfeit insurance checks. People will send what appear to be insurance checks to their victims, asking them to submit their co-pay in return.

“A lot of people are hurting with the economy and figure the insurance company made a mistake,” Winters said. “It seems like easy money, but eventually they’re going to pay for it.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or rgauthier@coxohio.com.

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