Police Attend Burglary Task Force Meeting

The investigations into the rising number of cat burglaries in town continue with police sharing information with other towns in the state.

Police Captain David Wayman said last week's meeting of a burglary task force consisting of police representatives in Union and Somerset Counties focused primarily on intelligence sharing between departments. He said most of the briefing was dominated on finding out information on recent burglaries in Mountainside. Police have been focusing on a rise in burglaries along the Route 22 corridor.

"Everyone is experiencing the same problem," Wayman said of the meeting which also included police representatives from communities as far north as Paramus and as far south as Marlboro.

Wayman said the departments are looking to get on the same page with information and will be increasing the sharing of intelligence gathered during the investigations. Westfield has seen four burglaries on the south side this summer, and Wayman said the activity in Westfield is similar to the burglaries in other communities. He said police are investigating the possibility that many of the burglaries are being conducted by the same person or persons.

With a police source saying that this summer's rise in burglaries is nothing unusual, saying that burglaries traditionally rise in the summer as more Westfield residents are out of town, Wayman downplayed the possibility, saying that burglaries are sporadic throughout the year.

"I don't know if we can nail down one month as being a higher rate than others," he said.