Thursday, October 1, 2026
As police investigate a series of home burglaries that have shocked a normally quiet, tight-knit West End neighborhood, hundreds of residents turned out for a meeting last week to hear from police officials who said they are searching for a perpetrator who they believe lives in the area.
At a meeting of the West End Neighbors Civic Association on Sept. 29, more than 200 residents packed the West End Community Center and peppered Long Beach Police Commissioner Thomas Sofield Sr. and others with questions about what many have called a crime wave. The burglaries began on Sept. 14 and occurred at homes on Maryland, Wyoming and Pennsylvania avenues and Alabama and Kentucky streets, all between 8 a.m. and noon, police officials said.
The burglar typically pushes in an air conditioner or enters through an open window, according to police, who added that no residents were home during the break-ins. “The individual goes into the home, ransacks the place and usually takes cash and jewelry,” said Detective Lt. James Canner.
On Tuesday, Deputy Inspector Bruce Meyer said that no burglaries had been reported since Sept. 25. “We’re still following every lead and working diligently to locate the person who is responsible — that hasn’t ceased,” Meyer said. “We’re still spending a lot of time and energy to track this person down.”
In the days since the meeting, however, residents have said that they are still on edge. “We’re still pretty much in lockdown,” said one resident who declined to be named. “If you walk down the street, you can see everyone’s windows are locked.”
Police began informing residents about the break-ins on Sept. 24, going door to door with a letter detailing the situation, after it was determined that a pattern had developed, Sofield said. “We realize it’s a very dangerous situation ... and we felt it was time to alert the community,” Sofield told residents.
The burglar has been described by witnesses as a white man in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 feet 11, with brown hair. Sofield said that investigators are looking at several suspects.
Some residents asked whether the burglar was randomly choosing homes or targeting specific ones. Lt. Jack Radin explained that police believe they are “crimes of opportunity.”
“We feel that it’s someone with a substance-abuse problem, judging by the items taken,” Sofield said.
Canner explained that the last burglary, on Pennsylvania Avenue on Sept. 25, in which a flat-screen television was stolen, did not fit the pattern, because the crime was committed between 7 p.m. and midnight. “There are a lot of different aspects to that burglary, but that’s the fifth one in the pattern,” Canner said.
One resident asked why parents were not notified about a burglary near West School on Sept. 22, and Canner said that police did contact the school, but that it was up to school officials to notify parents.
The police said they could not disclose details about evidence they are examining, and that those efforts could take weeks.
The Nassau County Police Department has assisted the LBPD with the investigation, officials said, and county police are examining and processing fingerprints. Some residents asked why the department does not have its own fingerprint team. “We don’t have a large enough department to handle that,” Sofield said, adding that most local communities pay the county for such services.
Some residents criticized the department, saying that they would have liked to be informed about the crimes earlier. Sofield said that the department regularly posts information on Twitter and Facebook, and that police decided to inform residents on streets that were hit shortly after a pattern had been established. “We ... have to decide whether we alert every homeowner, and also the suspect, or if we hold back the information we have and try to apprehend him more quickly,” he said. “It’s a balancing act.”
Other residents said that the city should have notified residents through its emergency Swift 911 system. “If we sent out a Swift 911 message to everybody in the West End, there are going to be hundreds of people who are going to panic,” Sofield said, adding that it was a judgment call.
“They’re panicking anyway,” one resident shot back.
Sofield and Radin explained that police wanted to get feedback by distributing the letters door to door, saying that Swift 911 provides only a “one-way communication.”
Some residents, including Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford, called for a police booth in the West End, while others asked if the department could provide more officers to patrol the West End on foot. Radin said that they had considered those suggestions, but concluded that officers who patrol on bicycles can cover a wider area.
City Councilman Mike Fagen grilled Sofield and other officials about a slew of issues that beset the West End over the summer, including a series of auto break-ins and bicycle thefts. Fagen said he was disappointed in the level of service the department provides and called for more visible police patrols. “The West End needs additional attention, so that quality-of-life issues that we all suffered through the summer don’t lead up to what we’re experiencing now,” Fagen said.
Sofield maintained that the department had provided extra manpower for the past three weeks as a result of the burglaries, with extra officers, patrol cars and undercover officers in the Street Crimes Unit throughout the night in the West End.
Sofield said that crime in Long Beach is relatively low compared with past decades. In the 1980s, he said, there were about 1,000 burglaries per year. In the past 10 years, he said, there have been an average of 40 to 60 per year. “Still,” he said, “if it’s one burglary, and it’s your house and your neighbor, it’s one too many, and we understand that.”
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