OAKLAND COUNTY (WWJ) — As an increase in break-ins and burglaries of high-end homes across Metro Detroit in recent weeks has residents on high alert, law enforcement officials are stepping up the fight.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard on Wednesday announced the formation of a task force of more than 30 local, state and federal agencies, known as Southeast Michigan Collaborate Arrest Prosecute, or SEMCAP.
The task force is a response to what Bouchard says is a transnational robbery crew, which he first spoke about at the end of September. The scope of the burglary ring has only grown since then.
“We think it’s somewhere between 30-40 since September in Oakland County alone,” Bouchard told WWJ’s Jon Hewett. “All the same kind of target, very high-end home, an approach that makes it a little more obscured to visitors or neighbors.”
Bouchard said law enforcement believe organized Chilean gangs are behind the robberies.
Four suspects were arrested in a recent Oakland County jewelry store robbery, while another group of suspects connected to a Metro Detroit home robbery was caught in Indiana. No information about the suspects has been released.
“They are well-trained, according to law enforcement, and very difficult to penetrate, as far as who is financially backing them,” Hewett reported after Bouchard’s press conference Wednesday. “And they remain on the move after they do a series of break-ins, making that even more challenging.”
Officials say the crews, typically consisting of three or four suspects, target expensive homes — especially million-dollar homes — that have thick landscaping and/or back up to wooded areas, trees, shrubs, trails or golf courses.
Authorities say they use these areas as cover as they stake out the expensive homes, waiting for the right time to strike.
The robbery crews also use devices to jam frequencies of wireless alarm and security systems to avoid being caught.
“Check your alarm, make sure it’s functioning, make sure everything’s working. The layered approach on an alarm system is the best, so having contacts on windows and doors and motions inside,” Bouchard said.
“And best yet is to make sure they’re hard-wired because these folks have been utilizing jammers. And if you have an all-wireless system, it’s gonna block those signals,” he said.
The following law enforcement agencies are part of the new SEMCAP task force:
• Auburn Hills
• Berkley Police Department
• Birmingham Police Department
• Bloomfield Hills Police Department
• Bloomfield Township Police Department
• Canton Police Department
• Chesterfield Township Police Department
• Farmington Hills Police Department
• FBI
• Franklin Police Department
• Grosse Pointe Farms Police Department
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Keego Harbor Police Department
• Lake Angelus Police Department
• Lathrup Village Police Department
• Macomb County Sheriff’s Office
• Michigan State Police
• Northville Township Police Department
• Novi Police Department
• Oakland County Sheriff’s Office
• Oxford Village Police Department
• Rochester Police Department
• Shelby Township Police Department
• Southfield Police Department
• Sylvan Lake Police Department
• Troy Police Department
• U.S. Border Patrol
• U.S. Secret Service
• Walled Lake Police Department
• Wayne County Sheriff’s Office
• Waterford Township Police Department
• White Lake Township Police Department