Verona Police are confirming that there was a burglary Thursday night at a home on Afterglow Avenue.
According to Chief Doug Huber, at about 11 p.m., an African-American male entered through an unlocked back door at the home, grabbed a child’s backpack and fled. There was no threat to the residents inside, so police are terming the crime a burglary and not a home invasion, which involves an act of violence.
The burglary is the latest in an unusual uptick in crime in Verona. There was a break in at a home on Woodland Avenue on May 20 and a home invasion on Grove Avenue on May 10 that left a senior citizen with a broken elbow.
Chief Huber said that the VPD is actively working with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office on solving the crimes. “We are putting extra police out on the roads at night,” he added. In the meantime, the chief asked residents to be mindful about locking doors, on both their homes and their vehicles.
Police Department manpower has been decreased by more than 20% over the past few years! Asking to do more with less is understandable. However, Verona is playing a risky game by spreading the P.D.’s Table of Organization (aka T.O.) a little to thin. If the situation is not addressed very soon, the Billboard at Pompton & Bloomfield is going to read, ‘Township of Verona’ ‘Criminals Welcome’!
As distressing as current events are, we need to remember perhaps that it is a crime wavelet, not a crime wave, and we have seen wavelets before, even when the VPD had more manpower. Let’s lock our front doors, back doors and car doors, and keep the hyperbole on hold.