MoCO Home Invasion roundup (update 8/16/07)

I have been tracking the crime reports and noted something interesting. Unless a homeowner is actually confronted by an intruder, the incident is classified as a "theft/break-in" rather than a "robbery."

Two examples from this week:

WashPost

Crime Report

Thursday, August 16, 2007; GZ16

Dist. 1 (Rockville)
THEFTS/BREAK-INS

GRINNELL DR.,7300 block, 1:05 a.m. July 29. Property was stolen from a residence. A man was seen fleeing the area on foot.
. .. .
SERENITY LANE,5900 block, 2:50 a.m. July 30. A man forced his way into a residence, then fled in a gold Jeep Grand Cherokee. Nothing was reported missing.

But see from the same weekly report:

Dist. 3 (Silver Spring)

ROBBERIES

CARROLL AVE.,8700 block, 12:01 a.m. July 20. Two males were seen trying to break into a residence. Nothing was reported missing.

What is the difference between the three cases? Answer: none.

I don't know about you, but if someone comes into my house at 3AM "by force"," I consider that to be a home invasion, whether or not she/he demands that I hand over my wallet.

As such, anytime I see a "entered by force" report with pinpointed time during the 7pm to 8AM time frame I am coding it as a home invasion. "Pinpointed" means narrowing down the crime time to 15min period or less. I am doing this because I think there is a reasonable liklihood that someone called the cops at that time and the 911 records allow an accurate time of crime. Daytime burglaries seem to have a crime time of an 8 hour period, which is reasonably due to the victim leaving home for work and discovering the crime when they come home.

Here are others for this week:

Dist. 3 (Silver Spring)

ALPENHORN WAY, 13000 block, 5:30 p.m. July 19. Property was taken from a residence entered by force. Two male youths were seen leaving the scene.

MOUNT PISGAH RD.,9600 block, 4:20 a.m. July 23. A man was seen trying to break into a residence. Nothing was reported missing.

TUFA CT.,1800 block, 1:15 to 1:25 p.m. July 24. Property was stolen from a residence entered by force.

TURQUOISE TERR.,12700 block, 2 p.m. July 24. Property was stolen from a residence entered by force.
. . .

Dist. 6 (Gaithersburg)

CINNABAR TERR.,7400 block, 2:45 p.m. July 24. Property was stolen from a residence entered by force. Two males were seen leaving the scene.

SUMMIT AVE. N.,400 block, 4:30 a.m. July 24. Property was stolen from a residence.

Notice that the 8/11/07 home invasion and attempted rape on Lost Knife Circle was NOT included in this WashPost crime summary.