Residents in one Bucks County neighborhood are on alert after a series of home break-ins, most while residents slept.
Doylestown Police put plainclothes officers on the streets and in unmarked cars after four burglaries in as many weeks along normally quiet Maple Avenue -- three of the burglaries happened while residents were home.
"Everybody's locking, and frightened, and concerned," said resident Debbie Hutchinson.
Thieves broke into Hutchinson’s home through a window while she slept. They made off with an iPad and cash.
"You feel violated, you feel why my house, I was home, we thought everything was locked down," Hutchinson told NBC10’s Katy Zachry.
The thieves seem relentless sometimes. Sharon Mowen had just added more locks to her doors and windows before her home was hit by thieves who used a crowbar to pry open a basement window before rummaging through every room in her home taking jewelry, a laptop and other items.
"You expect somebody to maybe go for a crime of opportunity, finding an open window or door but this just felt so determined and there was a violent element to it," Mowen said.
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Zachry says that Mowen had an alarm system installed following the theft and that in general the neighborhood is on edge.
Police say that they hope their ramped up efforts as well as help from the public helps catch the doers. They say that if anyone sees anyone or anything out of the ordinary that they should immediately contact police at (215) 348-4201.
