Metal bars and iron grates - once reserved for crime-ridden city neighborhoods - may become more common at Baltimore County convenience stores as police struggle to curb a rash of smash-and-grab burglaries.
Twenty-eight such crimes, in which burglars break a window, enter a store and run off with as much merchandise as they can grab, have been reported in the county since May 1. Police say they are difficult to solve.
"It is a very, very basic form of burglary," said Lt. Jerry Foracappo, who is in charge of the county police burglary unit. "You just smash a window and walk through."
Police say smash-and-grab burglaries have been increasing nationwide since the early 1990s, starting in Miami, where thieves were interested in expensive merchandise. In most Baltimore County cases, burglars are after one of the hottest black market commodities on the street today: cigarettes, which are growing more and more costly.
Foracappo said smash-and-grab burglaries have occurred recently at stores in every county police precinct, but that North Point, Towson, Woodlawn and Garrison have been hit particularly hard. The Royal Farms store in the 600 block of Southwick Drive in Towson was broken into three times between June 2 and June 12.
"You can't protect them other than putting barriers in front of your business," said Matt Stopa, general manager of Alarm Security Group, a security company in Beltsville.
Stopa and police say burglar alarms are almost no help in deterring the crimes because the burglars are often gone by the time the alarm company alerts police.
In one case, Foracappo said, a burglar was in and out of a store in eight seconds. In other cases, burglars stay in a store - grabbing as much as they can - for up to 90 seconds.
It usually takes about a minute for a security company to alert police to an alarm, Stopa said.
The swiftness of the crimes has hampered detectives. Foracappo said police have solved six of the 28 smash-and-grab burglaries reported since May 1.
"It is a pretty difficult case to make," he said, adding that detectives' best crime-fighting tool is a store's video monitoring system.
Rick Gordon owns a Citgo gas station in the 7100 block of Reisterstown Road in Garrison. The business was burglarized May 20 when someone smashed the front window and stole $80 worth of cigarettes, according to a police report.
Police made an arrest in the case after finding fingerprints on a pack of cigarettes dropped by the burglar as he was running away, Gordon said.
Foracappo said smash-and-grab burglaries are growing more frequent as the price of cigarettes - now $30 to $40 per carton - continues to rise. The cigarettes are resold on the street at far less than retail value, or in some cases to convenience stores.
"Drug users seem to be the most frequent candidates for that type of crime," Foracappo said. "It is something they can turn over to cash."
On June 27, a burglar pried open the front door at a Royal Farms store in the 2700 block of Taylor Ave. in Parkville and stole 71 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes, valued at $2,158.40, according to a police report.
To combat the problem, police and security experts are urging businesses to install unbreakable glass or grates on their windows. They are also urging store owners to store cigarettes in a safe or locked room.
But some convenience store owners are hesitant to follow that advice.
"If you want to put bars on the door or a metal grate up, it would solve the problem," Gordon said. "But it would make you feel like you are working in a prison.
"But if it happens every week, I might consider it."
