Thursday, April 19, 2018
www.berlincitizen.com
Volume 22, Number 9
Police launch response to car thefts By Ashley Kus The Citizen
Police hope a new program called CARS will help catch car thieves by using security camera video. “We haven’t had anything like this before,” said police Sgt. Shawn Solek. “We have an alarm registry but nothing pertaining to security cameras.”
By Ashley Kus The Citizen
Residents will vote on a $45.6 million general government budget and a $43.9 million school budget, separate for the first time, at referendum on Tuesday, April 24.
Community Assistance in Response to Stolen cars/property was launched following a string of car thefts and break-ins within the last year. In 2017 over 120 thefts from motor vehicles were reported and 30 vehicles stolen, a nearly 20 percent increase from the previous year. Many of the crimes have been a result of unlocked vehicles. Berlin police arrested three juveniles in 2017 related to some of the thefts.
Past security footage residents were able to provide police of car theft suspects. Ashley Kus, The Citizen
Solek said he thought of the idea of creating a database that could easily pinpoint the location of exterior residential and business security cameras.
“The world is completely different now,” Solek said. “There’s technology everywhere.”
ter a crime is reported to see if the suspect was caught on security camera.
Currently officers go door to door af-
See Berlin, A3
With spring comes wildlife sightings By Ashley Kus The Citizen
As the weather warms up, bears, coyotes and foxes are beginning to appear in residential areas.
The town budget : what to know
“Over the next month we’ll start seeing more,” said Donna Weinhofer, Plainville animal control officer, about bear sightings in town.
The budgets reflect a $279 impact on an average $250,000 valued home. The new mill rate will be 33.21, a 1.6 mill increase from the present year. The Board of Finance, formed by charter change in 2016, spent months looking over the Acting Town Manager’s initial total budget proposal of $93.9 million. Members of the board reduced the manager’s budget by over $4 million.
Energy and Environmental Protection, Plainville had 50 reports of black bear sightings from April 10, 2017, to Oct. 18, 2017.
The town budget includes over $2 million in capital improvement items. These include replacements of police vehicles, highway vehicles, school vans, school phones,
See Wildlife, A3
See Budget, A4
According to the state Department of
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