A recent spate of burglaries in a Williamsburg warehouse has the 90th Precinct officers on the alert for a suspect.
On February 8, police responded to four burglary reports at 35 Meadow Street, a three-story converted factory building just off Waterbury Street, in an industrial section of East Williamsburg one block from English Kills. The building has been converted into offices about 20 feet by 20 feet, which housed individual businesses, some of which rented space for storage.
“Unfortunately the security there is very weak,” said 90th Precinct Deputy Inspector Michael Kemper. “There’s no security system. We’ve taken a handful of burglaries over there. It could have been same time period when everyone left work for the weekend.”
Burglaries in Williamsburg in 2010 are similar to levels in 2010. So far there have been 40 burglaries in the precinct this year, compared with 35 in the past year. There were six burglaries in the first week of February, which Kemper said were mostly concentrated on Meadow Street.
Several individual businesses reported missing property and detectives are still investigating the matter. The suspect is still at large.
Kemper noted that there was no forced entry and that the suspect likely “jimmied their way through the door.” He believes that the burglaries likely occurred at the same time but does not believe they are indicative of a trend where burglars are targeting industrial warehouses or lofts.
“This isn’t usual,” said Kemper. There is a strong possibility that all the burglaries we took in this building occurred in the same time period.
A couple have happened in the past, but nothing to this magnitude.”
Kemper spoke with the building’s landlord, giving him recommendations to improve security and urged loft dwellers, both residential and commercial, to talk with their own landlords and take responsibility for their own businesses.
“One building could have a couple of dozen businesses,” said Kemper. “People come in and out all day, all night. Security can be lax. Gaining entry into these rooms are very easy.”
