Veronica Sepulveda
Metro Editor
The Claremont Chamber of Commerce hosted a presentation “Take a Bite Out of Crime” Wednesday for the Claremont Police Department to inform business owners of some ways to secure their businesses.
Crime alerts have been sent to the email inboxes of Claremont business owners due to recent crime increases in Claremont.
“The Chamber is very proud to put on this event thanks to the cooperation of the Claremont Police Department,” Maureen Aldridge, Claremont Chamber of Commerce CEO, said.
“We felt after seeing all the crime alerts coming through that it was important to put this on for our businesses.”
Claremont has seen a major increase in crime going from 92 thefts and 35 burglaries in 2012, to 118 thefts and 65 burglaries so far this year.
Last weekend there were three burglaries reported to the Chamber and another alert was sent out. All three businesses’ windows were broken and money was stolen.
The police department is aware of the increase in crime and knows it is a problem. Officers and detectives are meeting with the chief of police on a regular basis to implement different strategies and find solutions, Sgt. Lori Davenport said.
Davenport and Detective Isaac Reyes gave a presentation including several tips to help businesses protect and make themselves less appealing to potential burglars.
The tips included installing a better alarm systems where all doors and windows have sensors and to have more lighting in businesses that will allow the police officers to see inside the businesses as they patrol, Reyes said.
Police officials are encouraging all business owners to work together to be more aware of what is going on.
“It’s not just the responsibility of the police department to police the community,” President of the Claremont Crime Prevention Coalition Edgar Reece said.
“It is us as citizens to be involved in that process. Police can’t be everywhere, resources are limited. We in the community can have the opportunity to pay attention, to remember incidents and be a good witness, as well as to report when something is odd.”
The Claremont Crime Prevention Coalition was established a month ago so that citizens, businesses and community organizations could work together to promote crime prevention. Currently there are 208 members.
With the efforts of the Chamber, police department and the Coalition, they are working together to help prevent these crimes but it is ultimately up to the business owners to take measures into their own hands and install as much security as possible.
The police department is encouraging business owners to report any suspicious activity.
The Chamber will continue to send out crime alerts from the police department. With the cooperation of the businesses and increased awareness the hope is to decrease the amount of crime.
“We don’t like seeing the crime rate go up, it’s stressing us out and we want it to stop,” Davenport said.
For more information about the Crime Prevention Coalition, visit claremontcpc.org.
Veronica Sepulveda can be reached at veronica.sepulveda@laverne.edu.
