Pineville’s Lakeside residents: Beware of daytime home burglars

By Bill Sumrall
The Light

PINEVILLE — Two daytime breakins in Pineville’s Lakeside area have residents on the alert, a community leader said Friday, June 26.

“We’ve had some breakins here,” said Angelina Iles, who heads Pineville’s Concerned Citizens group. “The neighbors are beginning to be vigilant,” Iles said.

Lakeside area resident Kitty Harris complained that one daytime breakin occurred Wednesday, June 24, at a doublewide mobile home on Wayne Street and another occurred Thursday, June 25, at a house on Prince Street.

Harris speculated burglars have been “casing out” the area.

Lately there’s been a lot of foot traffic noticed in the afternoons and evenings, Iles said.

“These are people we don’t know,” Iles said.

There’s been much transient traffic this summer and Iles warned that new renters in the area should be aware of this problem.

Pineville’s police department has a community policing program but the area affected also falls under the jurisdiction of the parish, Iles said.

Iles added the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office no longer has an assigned contact person or deputy to provide the coverage as in the past.

However, concerned citizens can learn more about what to do during the Neighborhood Watch organization’s meeting the last Tuesday each month, with the upcoming meeting at 6 p.m. June 30 in the Main Street Community Center of downtown Pineville, Iles said.