Friday, Aug. 25

Stolen before midnight: An officer was dispatched to Euston Street for a report of a stolen bicycle. The victim stated he had last seen his bicycle on the morning of 8/24, but when he returned home at approximately 11:30 p.m., his bicycle was missing. The resident’s roommate stated she observed the bicycle still locked to the stairs at approximately 2:00 p.m. The lock had been cut and was found on scene.

Suspicious man?: A Winchester Street resident called police to report was walking home a few days earlier on Aug. 22, when she encountered a man who attempted to engage in conversation. As he continued to try to speak to her, she became fearful and ran into her building. Then today she saw the same guy in the vestibule of her apartment building and contacted the police. Officers spoke to the subject who stated he was waiting for a friend. He was advised that he needed to vacate the premises unless he was specifically invited by a resident and future visits might result in trespassing or other charges. He vacated the premises and the caller was escorted to her apartment.

A little while later: An officer spoke to a representative of the management company at the same address on Winchester Street regarding an suspicious individual in the building. Police found the same man in the building, claiming he was looking for a friend. He was seen knocking on several apartment doors. Officers escorted the man out of the building per the property owner he was issued a verbal no-trespass order and was advised he would be subject to arrest if he went onto the property again. Officers requested that the management company remind tenants to lock their doors and deny access to unknown individuals.

Alleged car break in artist arrested: Francis McDonald, 41, of Roxbury was arrested and charged on an active arrest warrant related to a car break that occurred on Naples Road after officers and detectives found him near the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Winslow Road. At the time of his arrest, the subject was in possession of bolt cutters, screw drivers, a wrench, and stolen gift cards. Officers received the property owner’s address and information on where his vehicle would have been left. His vehicle was located and appeared to have been broken into. The property owner could not be contacted, but he was provided information via email. The bolt cutters and gift cards were placed into evidence.

Landscape scam?: An officer spoke with a party who believed he had been scammed by a landscaper. On 8/3, the reporting party provided the landscaper with a check for work that was to be done in his back yard. The landscaper was meant to bring a contract to the resident before any of the work was done and before the check was cashed; however, the check was cashed and the reporting party never received a contract. The landscaper stated he would bring the contract on various occasions, but failed to do so and the victim can no longer contact him. The victim has started civil proceedings at Brookline District Court.

Saturday, Aug. 26

Spare a spare? A citizen reported that a spare tire had been stolen from the back of her vehicle. She stated that she had parked her vehicle on Linden Street on 8/23 between 6:30 and 10:30 p.m. and when she returned to the vehicle, the spare tire and cover had been removed.

Polly want a parrot scam: A Brookline resident reported he purchased two parrots from an online site and sent a money gram to an individual in Virginia. He later sent an additional sum of money for the birds’ insurance to another individual in Virginia. When asked to send more money, the reporting party stated he believed he had been scammed and stopped responding to emails from the company. Officers were provided copies of the transfers made and emails between the two parties. No parrots made it to the man who paid for them.

Bike theft: Someone called police to report their bike was stolen from a bike rack on a car parked on Harvard Street around 7:05 p.m. At 10:10 p.m., the bicycle was missing. The lock had been cut and was left on the vehicle.

Sunday, Aug. 27

Found bike: 1:21 a.m.: An officer reported finding a white bike on the ground near the beginning of a driveway on Worthington Road. The garage door at the rear of the residence was also unlocked and open. But none of the residents were home at the time and it did not appear that forced entry had been used to enter the garage. Police closed the garage door and took the bike to the station for safe keeping.

Some snooping leads to arrest: Around 3:30 a.m. an officer saw three men looking into buildings on Harvard Street with a flashlight. The officer stopped the individuals and other officers arrived to assist. While speaking to the three, it was discovered that one of them had a default warrant. He was placed under arrest. Officers safely removed a hypodermic needle from his person during the process. A camera was also found in his possession and placed into evidence. The subject was later transported for medical attention.

Postal service police are investigating a bizarre, new scam in the greater Boston area.

Police said crooks have been stealing mail from official post office mailboxes. The criminals will go up to a standard blue mail drop box, usually between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. They will tie a plastic container, like a water bottle, to a piece of string and put some sort of glue on the outside of the container, usually glue from rodent traps. Then they will put it in the mailbox, allow letters to stick to it, and then pull the container back out.  

The criminals will then use those letters to get personal information, like credit card numbers and checks.

Brookline police said a mailbox on Freeman Street has been hit three times in the last two weeks.

“A couple had mailed a couple of checks to their landlord. The landlord contacted them saying he never received the checks,” said Deputy Sup. Stephen Burke.

Burke said they have never seen anything like this in the past.

The postal inspection service says they believe a gang based in New York is behind the “fishing scam.” Several mailboxes across the state have been hit, including in Lawrence, Lynn and Worcester.

Police said they want to make it clear that they do believe it is still safe to use these mailboxes, but to call the local police department if you find any “fishing” devices.

The Brookline Police Department has released its mid-year review, and Patch is here to breakdown the 54-page document for readers. The review, which is officially submitted by Chief Daniel O’Leary to Melvin Kleckner, the Town Administrator, is available for the public to read.

In the opening memo, O’Leary noted the following:

• The expansion of racial diversity on the force, particularly with graduation of ten new recruit officers, consisting of four women, two Asian officers, one Latino officer, and an African-American officer.
• Lieutenant June Murphy was commemorated. Murphy died unexpectedly in May after having served Brookline since 1984, and passed many milestones, like becoming the first female sergeant to earn the rank of Lieutenant in 2003, and as the founder of Massachusetts Association of Women in Law Enforcement (MAWLE) in 2007.

Crime statistics have been compiled for the department for Jan. 1- June 30, 2017. The department claims that crime in Brookline is down more than 70% in the last 20 years.

Crime Statistics:

• 348 Part A crimes, defined as murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglery, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. This is a 4% decrease from the first half of 2016.
• There were no murders in the first half of 2017. Brookline has had no murders since 2007.
• For the first half of 2017, violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery and assault) are down 14% compared to the first half of 2016 (75 in 2017 compared to 87 in 2016).
• In summary, assaults are down 15% burglaries are down 36%, larceny has increased by 3%, rapes and robberies remain the same as the first half of 2016.
• The Domestic Violence Unit was involved in the investigation of 43 cases during the first
  six months of 2017.

Traffic Enforcement Statistics

• There were 8,435 moving violations issued to motorists on Brookline’s roads.
• 57,587 parking tickets were issued, totaling $1.8 million in fines and penalties.
• Officers responded to nearly 35,000 calls.

How Are Police Dealing With Racial Controversy?

Police are holding ongoing trainings on justice and how to police during protests. In a trip coordinated by a training division and the Brookline Police Department Diversity Committee, Brookline Police department members took a tour of the Museum of African American History and the West End House Museum. The training also included “a discussion of forced busing in Boston in the 1970s and the abortion protests in Brookline of the 80s-90s and how police, despite their personal views on the subject, were on the front line of enforcement.”

Social Media Visibility

The Department tweets 40-50 times a month. An additional three hundred people have followed the Facebook page, and an additional 300 on Instagram and 400 on Twitter. The website had 36,000 visitors in the first six months of the year.

Special Response Team Training

The team was activated for the 121st Boston Marathon, and for a mutual aid operation to the Chelsea Police Department. The Department is also going through re-accreditation processes with the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission .

Department Update on Dealing with the Mentally Ill and Vulnerable Populations

The department is using a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) to assist people with mental illness, drug/alcohol dependency and/or other factors which require a social service response, in the hopes that they can reduce the re-occurrence of a law enforcement intervention. The national CIT Model’s goal is to have 25% of a police department CIT trained. At this time, approximately 52% of the Brookline Police Department’s Officers (64), from all 5 divisions and one civilian victims-witness advocate, are CIT trained.

Two men have been arrested in connection to international ATM theft. Brookline police were dispatched to a bank on Harvard Street on Tuesday night with a tip of fraudulent activity at the ATM machines. An employee told police that he had been tracking two males through multiple states who came in to use the ATMs.

Officers found the two men to be in possession of various credit cards which they had used to make fraudulent transactions at the ATMs. The men, who have been in the country for less than ten days, were placed under arrest for Uttering a Forged Instrument, Illegal Use of a Credit Card, Identity Fraud, Possessing 4 or More Falsely Embossed Credit Cards, and Larceny over $250. The burglars had been tracked committing ATM theft in NYC by bank fraud investigators since they arrived in the U.S. on August 7. Allegedly they had accumulated $11,000 in fraudulent monies before arriving in Brookline.

The bank is partnering with the New England Electronics Task Force for a follow up investigation. The men are awaiting a bail hearing at the Brookline Municipal Court.

Since the beginning of August, East Boston, Cambridge, Quincy, Braintree, and Medway have had reports of individuals approaching residences claiming to be water department employees to gain access to the homes. Once inside, they either ask the victims to stay in the basement while they go to their truck for a tool or go upstairs to check something. When the victims return, they find money and jewelry was stolen.

In one incident in East Boston, the victim did not go to the basement with the suspect but later saw the suspect flee from the home and found money missing from the home’s second story.

Most victims have been elderly and all incidents occurred during afternoon hours. Suspect descriptions have varied.