GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) is searching for a suspect who is accused of breaking into two homes early Saturday morning.
GRPD said that the two break ins occurred between midnight and 5:30 a.m. in the Beckwith Hills Neighborhood near the intersection of Leonard Ave and Perkins Ave. They say that the suspect also tried unsuccessfully to break into multiple other homes.
The homes that the suspect did enter had their doors unlocked, GRPD said. The police warn the community that it's important for people to lock their doors to stay safe.
"We want our people to know is the best thing they can do is lock all their doors," said GRPD Captain Michael Maycroft. "If they have lights that they can turn on in the back and in their front porch, that's going to help as well. And then just be a good neighbor, be on the lookout for anything and then report anything that you see."
Police have also seen an increase of items stolen from cars especially when thieves can see what appears to be something valuable.
"People don't sometimes lock their cars because they don't want people to break the window to get into their vehicle," said Maycroft. "But when we started doing the statistics on that, almost 95% of our larceny for motor vehicles or vehicles that are left unlocked."
Police have not identified the suspect of the home break ins, but said that the person was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and boots and was short in stature.
The two successful break ins were on Heathfield Dr NE and Banbury Dr NE.
Police are telling people to make sure that they lock the doors to their homes, lock their car doors, and turn on outdoor lighting.
"This isn't an area where we have a lot of these crimes. So we just don't want our people to become complacent," said Maycroft.
GRPD is asking anyone with Ring video or surveillance video of that night to contact police if they noticed anything suspicious.
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