The heat wave is causing a crime wave in Muscatine with 20 burglaries in the last week, including three Tuesday morning. The burglars are hitting garages, cars, homes and businesses and taking anything of value.
"The glove box in the truck was papers all over and then in the garage there was stuff scattered, cabinets were open," Kayleen Hayes says.
Hayes and her family woke up Saturday morning to find their car and garage turned upside down. She says nothing was taken from her home, but they won't be taking their chances again.
"It's kind of invading privacy I think, just that we were sleeping as someone as going through our personal stuff," she says.
Police say the burglars have been getting into unlocked homes and cars, taking prescription drugs, cash, and electronics.
"It's easier to get into places in the summertime, it's opportunity," Lt. Jeff Jirak of Muscatine Police says.
With school out for the summer, police say teenagers may be getting in on the action too.
"We see juveniles [doing this], and we run projects here at the police department to crack down on juvenile curfew violations," he says, "If we can curb that behavior, we see a decrease in burglaries."
Curfew hours are 9:30 pm to 6 am for 14 and younger, 11 pm until 6 am for 15-17 year olds. Police say the residential burglaries have typically happened during those hours.
"We would like to sustain that curfew project every night everyday of the week but obviously manpower prohibits us from doing that," Jirak says.
Though the residential burglaries may be the work of teens, police believe two or three different groups may be responsible. They say keep doors locked and be on the lookout for anyone suspicious, not just teens.
"There's very few of us to be on every street corner, protect yourself, and it takes you to do that," Jirak says.
Right now police have no solid leads and are looking for the public's help. If you see anything suspicious, they ask you to report it to police as soon as possible.
