The Alliance Police Department is asking people for help in identifying a suspect believed to be involved in a string of burglaries in Alliance earlier this year.
On Tuesday, the APD shared photos of an unidentified individual and a press release on social media.
“If anyone recognizes this individual and is able to identify them, please contact the Alliance Police Department as soon as possible,” the press release stated.
At a meeting with the Alliance Times-Herald in July, Chief Philip Lukens explained that the number of burglaries in the city have been declining.
“We have some suspects,” said Lukens. “We’ve got several warrants that we have executed to gather additional data. Our goal isn’t to solve one; it’s to solve all of them. That’s taken a little more time to be more methodical, but we’re not running at this like the OK Corral, if you will. We’re going to be very strategic and make sure that we have everything put together. We don’t want to solve a case for a few people, we want to solve a lot of them. So, there are a lot of things that go into that to include some forensic data. That takes time.”
Lukens asked citizens to take steps to deter people from committing crimes, such as installing cameras and changing locks on storage lockers.
“If we could get people to change the type of lock they have on their storage locker, it wouldn’t get broken in to,” Lukens said. “That would circumvent a lot of it. Yes, people could still use a cutting torch, or a sawzall, but now we’re going to start to have noise, which people recognize when a crime is being committed, and people will alert the police to get there quickly.”
Lukens also asked citizens to stay vigilant, noting if they see any suspicious activity, they need to report it.
“I would rather people call 10 times, and have officers checking things 10 times to be on the safe side, than to have anybody’s garage broken into, anybody’s storage locker, anybody’s car taken,” said Lukens. “We’d rather check things out all day long than go to the calls where someone’s been victimized. We’re really asking our community to please help us. If you see something, say something. Call us, even if you’re not sure. Let us not spend so much time running after a crime that has happened, but spend the time making sure future crimes don’t happen.”
In the weekly reflections shared by City Manager Seth Sorensen, Alliance saw no burglaries in the week of Aug. 30.
People may contact the Alliance Police Department at 308-762-4955.