“It’s not proportional to the overall township population,” said Lt. Andrew Perry of the Montgomery Police Department, with powerful understatement.
Lt. Perry was giving a PowerPoint prepared by his colleague Detective Adam Verducci to an August 15 public information session at the Ya Ya Noodles restaurant on Route 206.
Some 25 people attended, including Asian business owners and Ya Ya Noodles owner, and meeting host, Sushi John.
Why a Crime Wave Now?
“Why are they coming after you?” asked Lt. Perry, addressing the Asian Americans present. “It’s a new territory for them, and you’re a successful group.”
The gangs know their potential victims’ work ethic keeps them away from home most of the day. And these Asian Americans’ hard-earned prosperity, plus a traditional cultural valuation of precious-stone jewelry and gold, gives these criminals hope that a burglary will net a rich haul.
“This is going on all over,” Lt. Perry said. “Not only in Montgomery or Somerset County, but all over the Northeast. The FBI is taking an interest because this is a multi-state phenomenon.”
He emphasized these are not crimes of opportunity by local individuals but carefully pre-planned actions by organized full time, multi-state groups.
Some good news: So far, these gangs have not proven violent. They are not armed robbers of stores or homes, but sneak thieves who strike when homeowners are away, “to get in and out” as Lt. Perry put it.
“They’re not violent, but they’re really motivated and they’re really smooth,” Lt. Perry said. “They’re clean cut people. And they use females a lot, that’s specific to this group.”
Gang members will pose as delivery persons to scout potential targets. Their preferred entry points are typically second-story windows or basement windows, which are often not on home alarm systems.
So, the police strongly recommend high quality, well-functioning, house-wide alarm systems, preferably with video surveillance and motion detectors. Indeed, such high-grade home security helped win a recent notable victory in the new burglary wars.
Sgt. Jason R. Lawson reports an Asian American family in Montgomery was monitoring their house when they saw an intruder inside in real time. The homeowner called 911, the Montgomery police quickly responded, and an arrest was made.
However, these criminals employ technology themselves. “They use trail cameras a lot, attached to a tree or in shrubbery near homes, for surveillance,” Lt. Perry revealed. “The images can be sent to them via Wi-Fi. They’re willing to put the time in to figure you out. It’s their full-time job. As hard as you work at your business is as hard as they work at their business.”
Montgomery Township committeeman Dennis Ahn, himself an Asian American business person, is involved in getting out the word.
“I can’t say enough good things about our police department,” he said. “They understand the concerns and fears of our community.”
Ahn went with officers to visit Asian American-owned businesses and promote the session. “The Asian-American community is hard to reach,” Ahn said. “There’s often a language barrier.”
“As a child of Asian-American business owners, this especially touches me,” Ahn said. “Having a small business. Having to be there all the time. Working so hard to make a living for their family. Now they’re targeted and have to face this scary ordeal.”
Ahn said many local Asian-Americans who need this information “couldn’t make it to the meeting because they run one- or two-person businesses and can’t spare someone.”
Read the original article on themontynew.org
