LAPD Detectives Address Recent Burglary Spike, Host Town Hall Meetings

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Following a pre-holiday increase in reports of burglaries, Los Angeles Police Department West LA Burglary Detectives hosted two communitywide town halls via Zoom—explaining at the most recent meeting on January 3 that 12 suspects had been arrested in connection with some of the incidents.

“In the last few weeks, we here at LAPD have arrested seven South American burglary crew suspects,” LAPD Detective Robert Hoebink said. “Our fellow agency partners have arrested another five—that’s Beverly Hills and Glendale.”

Most of the suspects “appear to be associated,” Hoebink continued, and “part of an organization that we’re still trying to figure out all the details” on. LAPD also arrested another suspect who they believe is part of a “larger” “gang crew,” Hoebink said, which is responsible for “a lot of commercial burglaries.”

For the suspects arrested so far, Hoebink said their activity can primarily be attributed to Brentwood, Bel Air, and Benedict, Franklin and Coldwater canyons in the Mulholland area. At the time of the meeting, Hoebink said he did not want people to get “complacent and let down their guard,” as there were still crews operating in the Palisades and Riviera areas.

Along with the arrests, LAPD was able to recover some of the stolen property when searching vehicles and residences: “We returned over $1 million of property so far that we have been able to easily identify and we still have a few items left.”

Prior to the town halls and arrests, several concerned residents reached out to the Palisadian-Post to speak about the increase of burglaries.

“You feel very alone when you get broken into—your neighbors didn’t see anything,” one resident, whose home was burglarized, said to the Post.

Another resident said it felt like Palisadians were “sitting here waiting for it to happen to the next person,” since the frequency of burglary incidents had increased.

“As a citizen, everyone knows someone it happened to directly in the last six weeks,” they said in mid-December.

LAPD Senior Lead Officer for Pacific Palisades Brian Espin reported on December 17, 2023, that the area was “getting hit hard with vehicle crimes and residential burglaries”—noting a 14% increase of burglaries in year-to-date data (10 more than 2022 at the time).

“These residential burglaries are happening throughout the day and early evening hours,” Espin wrote. “The burglars are figuring out ways to climb or scale to the second-story balconies, and breaking the windows to get into the house. In some cases, the burglary suspects are accessing the property from the side or rear yard from the brush or hillsides.”

By December 27, 2023, Espin wrote that he hoped that data was showing that the crime spike was “tapering off”—though, prior to the increase, in a community alert issued September 2023 by LAPD West Los Angeles Area, it was reported that over the last several months, the station saw a “wave of burglaries targeting residential single-family homes” in places like the Palisades, Brentwood, Westwood Hills, Bel Air and beyond.

“We are seeing a downward trend in the residential burglaries in some of these communities that are heavily being impacted,” LAPD Detective Carlos Carrillo said January 3, “but we don’t want to let our guard down at this point, because we don’t want that trend to come back up.”

Toward the end of the meeting, LAPD Captain Richard Gabaldon said that throughout the West Bureau, West LA is the only area where burglary was down (14%) in year-to-date information, which he said is due, in part, to hardening homes and listening to the senior lead officers’ advice.

Items being targeted, according to the community alert and town hall meetings, include jewelry, luxury handbags, watches, safes and cash. The suspects were using tools like Wi-Fi jammers, handheld short-range radios, window punch and possibly a laser cutter.

When it comes to burglaries in the Palisades area, Hoebink said during the first town hall on December 21, 2023, that LAPD believes it has been a mix of South LA gang crews and South American theft groups—both of which the detective described as “sophisticated” with “distinct” modus operandi. Suspects are trained for burglaries before they arrive in places like Los Angeles, according to Hoebink.

Hoebink said the South LA gang crews used to be described as “knock knock burglars,” where they would knock on front doors and go to the back of the home to break in if no one answered.

“Most of the time now, they’re doing extensive surveillance,” Hoebink said, adding that they watch houses for three to four weeks at a time, using Google Earth searches to see what cars may be parked in a driveway to aid in establishing patterns. Hoebink said parking in a garage can help prevent this from being trackable, or parking at least one car in the driveway at all times, so it appears like someone is home.

“Most people feel violated [after a burglary],” the first resident who spoke with the Post said about hardening the community following the burglary at their home. “I see it as an opportunity, trying to prevent it for someone else.”

There are several ways residents can harden their homes to make them less attractive for burglaries, including installing cameras (ideally hard-wired, as Wi-Fi cameras can be shut off—though Hoebink said a Wi-Fi camera is better than no camera—that film in color) and a protective screen on glass windows/doors (including on the second-story), which will act as a deterrent, as it slows suspects down when trying to enter a home. Hoebink also said alarms are “highly” suggested, including glass-break sensors.

“I always like to talk about your efforts to protect yourself and your home security,” Hoebink said, “and I say it’s a balance of security versus convenience, and everyone’s balance is different.”

The detective said that, in some cases, suspects were getting $200,000 to $300,000, and up to $1 million, worth of goods from a single home. Since break-ins tend to be focused on the master bedroom and closet, the detective suggested spreading valuable items—like jewelry, designer purses and cash—throughout the home. He also recommended installing several safes and splitting items of value between them.

If a person is home at the time of the burglary, Hoebink suggested they scream to let the burglar know they are there, as “these suspects, across the board, do not want confrontation.”

In order to help catch suspects and recover stolen items, the detective said that video and photo footage was instrumental in 70% of solved cases.

“I used to say, cameras used to be great to stop burglaries, but they’re really not anymore,” Hoebink said. “They don’t stop burglaries. But they are a tremendous help to us because they help us harden the target as a neighborhood. The more cameras you have in the neighborhood, the higher chance that we have at solving our cases.”

For a chance of recovering stolen items, the detective suggested installing trackers, like AirTags in things like designer purses. He also recommended having footage, including photos and videos, as well as a list of serial numbers from items when applicable.

“If you live on a street that has access to the brush hillsides, please keep your eyes open for suspicious vehicles that are parked there,” Espin wrote. “Unless you see a crime, there is no need to call the police, but definitely either document by writing down or if you have a security camera facing the street. See if you are able to capture a picture or video of the suspected vehicle. This could be used at a later time for detectives to follow up on if they believe the street is being used by the burglary suspects.”

Hoebink said going forward the goal is apprehending suspects, then putting out messaging to citizens to harden their homes and have LAPD patrol with “extra high visibility” to let suspects know they are still in the neighborhoods.

To contact Detective Hoebink to claim any of the recovered items, email 38280@lapd.online.