BURGLARY ARRESTS: TIPS ARE PAYING OFF

Residents of Cape Girardeau, particularly the elderly, vividly recall the growing fear and frustration that spread last year in the wake of 17 home burglaries, most of which involved older occupants. At the time, it seemed unimaginable that there could be so many victims without any arrests.

The community rallied at that time, and its efforts appear to have paid off. Not only did the burglaries stop, many residents took pains to learn how to make their homes safer.

And out of community concern about the rash of burglaries came the formation of Crime Stoppers, an organization that offers rewards when law enforcement agencies need information about hard-to-crack crimes.

The Crime Stoppers rewards appear to have played an important role in last week's arrests of three men who have been charged in four of last year's burglaries. Police Chief Rick Hetzel says he will recommend the payment of rewards to several individuals who provided information.

And interagency cooperation was a key to making the arrests. The first big break came when New Madrid police arrested two suspects for similar home burglaries there. When the two departments compared notes, police were able to connect suspects to burglaries here as well.

Investigations into the remainder of the burglaries is continuing. This painstaking work takes time. The only way to speed up the process is to obtain reliable information regarding the crimes. This information can be telephoned anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 335-0000.

It is probably no coincidence that the burglaries that targeted the elderly stopped when the community became aware of the situation and took steps to put a stop to the spree.

The installation of sturdier locks -- some of them donated by local merchants -- as well as the Crime Stoppers program have paid the biggest reward of all: The burglars seem to have moved on to towns where the pressure of an informed citizenry wasn't so intense.