Recent Home Invasions Target Brazilian Families in Eatontown and Long Branch

Is it any coincidence that a number of homes belonging to the Brazilian immigrant community in Long Branch and Eatontown have experienced “snatch and grab” break-ins in the last few months, a number of them occurring in the last couple of weeks? Residents of these homes call the Long Branch Police who write up a list of items stolen. The homeowner gets told that “it is probably someone you know,” and “case closed.”

Perhaps it is not someone they know that breaks into their houses in the middle of the day, seeking out one unlocked window behind a fence during the two or three hours that they may have been gone. Perhaps it is someone who knows “of them” and targets the Brazilians because they are more likely to have cash in the home, laptops, real gold jewelry and a few small electronic devices. Neither are they  likely to contact police or have good security systems.

This last week, however, they broke into the Eatontown home of a member of the law-enforcement community, a house that used to belong to a Brazilian family. In this case the same items were gathered, some were stolen, but then a nosy neighbor (me) had come home and they left seemingly in a hurry. This time the police were called and a thorough investigation was launched with fingerprints taken.

Perhaps the Long Branch Police should contact the Eatontown Police and compare notes. Just because it is the immigrant community that are the main targets does not mean that this situation should be swept under the carpet. We are all potential victims here of a series of crimes that could easily escalate.

Should we not be educating the entire community about this, and how to prevent these home invasions with securely locked doors and windows, cameras, security systems, safes for valuables and documents and simply being aware of who should be walking around and who should not?

The complacency of law-enforcement and our citizens can put us all in danger.