BALTIMORE — A quiet neighborhood in Northwest Baltimore has become the target for a recent string of break-ins and while police are now searching for those responsible, the councilman who represents the area says they’re limited in how they can, by state law.
"Why allow a suspect to continue to victimize people across the city when we can easily solve those those cases and prevent future incidents from taking place," District 5 Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer said.
Schleifer reports there have been at least 5 break-ins since late July in Mt. Washington.
WATCH: They have the tech, but can't use it to solve the crimes
“It's unsettling,” a neighbor who chose to only give her first name, Eliza, said. “This is a level of calculated break-ins that sort of, exceeds a norm that we've never seen ever here, to be honest. Thankfully, none of it has been violent."
All the incidents have happened during the day, while homeowners are away or at work.
“I double check my doors, and I do it during the day, which is not something I’ve done before. And I’m probably going to up my alarm coverage,” Eliza explained.
Baltimore Police have identified a person of interest through a Metro Crime Stoppers bulletin, offering up to a $2,000 award for information that leads to felony charges and an arrest.
Though their face can clearly be seen on camera, Schleifer points to a 2024 law passed by the Maryland state legislature that prevents police from using facial recognition technology in this case.
That's because, it's considered a non-violent crime.
Schleifer tells WMAR-2 News he advocated against a similar bill at city hall.
“There's a lot of hours that go into solving any one of these cases and the detectives' lives would be a lot easier and the cases solved a lot quicker if they can utilize this technology,” he said.
Schleifer warns it could be a slippery slope to not.
In Focus look at crime numbers in Mt. Washington over the last few years
“If somebody's home, it turns into a home invasion. A home invasion can easily turn into a shooting, can turn into a homicide, can turn into multiple things within seconds,” he said. "If we're not going to take the lower level crimes like property theft or home breaking seriously like we should,uh,then we're going to continue to see more violent crimes happen."
“Let's use it, before it gets violent because that's where it's going to end up,” Eliza said.
Schleifer says it's believed that it's the same person behind the crimes, though police have not confirmed this.
The agency is treating each report individually, though investigators have not ruled out that the crimes are connected.
