Intensive Investigation Leads to Burglary Ring Break-Up in Area
By GREG NOKES
. Mail Tribune Staff Writer
When a Medford city police
officer on routine night patrol
came upon four men who
were in the act of burglarizing
a safe at a local supermarket
last December, it set off an
intensive investigation that
led to the break-up of an inter-state
burglary ring.
By the time police had fin
ished with the ring, eight men
all of them from Medford-
had been arrested and charged
with safe burglaries in Med
ford, Central Point, Ashland
and Happy Camp, (Jam.
;" The discovery of the safe
burslary ring merely con
firmed what local police offi
cials have known for a long
time there are lots of i safe
burglars in Medford. :
. -. Det. Lt. Lyle Perkins esti
mates there are 20 "potential '
safe burglars living in Med
ford and vicinity. By poten
tial Perkins means that while
most of these men have rec
ords of safe burglary, not all
of them are actively "engag
ing in their trade" at the pres
ent time.
Difficult Criminal
'.""The safe burglar is one of
the most difficult of all crimi
nals to catch. If he knows his
trade, as most of them do, he
leaves no evidence at the
scene of a crime through
which police can trace the
crime to him;
.Verv often police have to
Tely on a "break" or stroke of
luck to help catch a safe bur
glar. This was the case in De
cember when a police office
happened to drive by a local
supermarket at the same time
lt was being burglarized.
Most safe burglars are pro
fessionals in their work. The
amateur or : beginner will
work with an experienced
burglar until he knows enough
to go it alone, or he will learn
It while in prison, according
to Lieutenant Perkins.
Safe burglary is not neces
sarily a lucrative business. Po
lice estimate the Iiftime wage
of a full-time safe burglar at
25 cents per hour. This sum
takes into account the time
spent by the average burglar
in prison.
Depend on Luck
- Luck has a lot to do with
how much a safe burglar will
make. Lieutenant Perkins said
some safe burglars will hit a
half-dozen safes only to find
them all empty, while others
will net upwards of $1,000
per burglary.
: In some cities safe burglars
are highly organized; while in
others there is no organization
at all, with each safe burglar
operating on his owp. ,
; Perkins said the safe bur
glars who were arrested in
Medford in recent months
were not highly organized,
but they did maintain some
sort of communication with
one another so that each usu
ally knew what the others
were doing. They kept a sort
of informal headquarters in a
local hotel.
Police were fortunate in
December's supermarket bur
glary in that one of the four
men had also operated with
another group in Happy
Camp, Calif. With the infor
mation gained from this bur
glary, police arrested three
more men in Medford and a
fourth, was picked up in
Grants Pass. .
Police Led to Another
These four were taken into
custody by Siskiyou county,
California, authorities and re
cently faced trial in Yreka.
One of these four later led lo
cal police to another safe bur
glar. A convicted safe burglar in
Oregon faces a prison sen
tence of from 1 to, 10 years,
depending on his prior record.
Nearly every safe burglar
serves some prison time dur
ing his career. Perkins said a
few safe burglars are in prison
more than they are out.
i Each safe man has his own
trademark or distinctive meth
od of opening a safe. Some
will enter a building through
the roof and "peel" a safe.
Others will always force open
a door and "punch" a safe. ,
Because of this trademark,
it is sometimes easy to tell
who committed a particular
burglary. 'But it is another
thing to prove it; 1
Four Methods ,
- Perkins listed four methods
by which a safe burglar can
open a safe: -.
He can pel it. This is done
by pounding on the safe door
with a sledge hammer until
the vibrations cause one edge
of the door to stick out. A
crowbar is then inserted un
der the edge of the door, and
the safe door is peeled back
done by taking a sledge ham
mer and knocking the dial off
the safe door. A rod which
controls the safe mechanism
is located under the dial, and
if the burglar hits this rod, in
the right spot hard enough, it
will break the safe mechan
ism, thereby opening the safe.
He can burn it. This is
done by merely taking an ace
tylene torch and burning a
hole in the safe.
He can blow it open with
dynamite or nitroglycerine.
Perkins said this used to be
a common method of opening
a safe but now that the law
provides a 40-year prison sen
tence for burglary by explo
sives, this practice has lost
much of its popularity.
Depends on Safe
The length of time required
to open a safe depends on the
kind of safe to be opened. A
top-notch safe burglar may
need as much as three to four
hours to open a money-chest
wall safe, while he can some
times get inside a box floor
safe within three minutes.
Perkins said it is his opin
ion that while box floor safes
are good for fire protection,
most of them present no prob
lem to the experienced bur
glar. Because safe burglary is
one of the most popular of
crimes, police agencies have
employed special methods to
deal with it.
Each police department Is
responsible for compiling up-to-date
data on every known
safe burglar within its juris-
-He can punch itThis:is diction. This data includes his
Greater Utilization
Of Raw Products Is
Needed in Industry
Grants Pass-Greater utiliza
tion of raw forest products is
the key to expanded produc
tivity of both public and pri
vate timber lands in southern
Oregon, according to reports
presented recently to some 50
lumber industry representa
tives who met here for a com
bined meeting of the truck
and timber committees of the
Southern Oregon Conser
vation and Tree Farm associa
tion. . ' '
Better usage of the present
842,000,000 board feet of tim
ber used annually by the mills
in Jackson and Josephine
counties could add materially
to local payrolls, it was point
ed out.
Improved logging and mill
ing practices and equipment
in the past 10 to 20 years has
added materially to the value
of the average acre of harvest
ed timber, but even greater
research is needed to develop
new techniques and new uses
for presently unusable by
products of the forests.
Serves as Chairman
Glen Duysen, Kogap, head
of the timber committee,
SOCTFA, served as chairman
of the meeting, which attract
ed both public and private
timber managers from Jack-
SSI
NS
VETERA
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BE SURE TO GET YOUR TITLE
REPORTS FROM THE . . .
JACKS
TITLE
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YOUR LOCALLY OWNED TITLE COMPANY
121 East Sixth Street Phone SP 3-4551
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. Title Company
Established 1885
son and Josephine counties.
Darrell Davis, chairman of
the truck committee, acted as
cochairman of the meeting,
and presented a detailed re
port on action taken by the
committee to resist legislation
on the state and national level
which, if enacted, could place
undo taxes and restrictions on
the lumber industry, the
prime economic factor in both
counties.
Details of several research
projects in forest practices
and regeneration studies were
reviewed by spokesmen at the
meeting in response to a ques
tion relative to the reforesta
tion job being done on both
public and private lands in
southern Oregon.
Scarcity of Seed
: Scarcity of - seed sources,
weevil infestations, difficult
terrain and adaptability of
seed to the area were cited
as reasons for the difficulty in
securing a high percentage of
regeneration on cutover lands.
Most of the lumber men were
optimistic about the job be
ing done in spite of difficul
ties encountered, but stressed
the need for continued re
search in the field.
Cal Smith, Industrial For
estry association, a private in
dustry sponsored lumber or
ganization active in tree farm
ing, reported on the work be
ing done by the Roseburg ex
periment station in genetics,
and pointed out the need for
more work on the problem of
eradication of brush on cut
over lands which takes nour
ishment, water and sunlight
from seedling trees, and cre
ates other problems in reforestation.
Committee Named
To Judge Entries
Members of the judging
committee for' the Oregon-Nevada-California-Southern
Cal
ifornia freight lines $300
scholarship have been an
nounced by C. C. Proctor,
southern Oregon ONC-So. Cal.
sales representative.
Headed by Alf. B. Mekvold,
Jackson county school super
intendent, the committee con
sists of Donald E. Faber, G. A.
Cottingham, Archie C. Fries,
O. A. Eden, Dean Anderson
and John R. Rcid.
The panel of judges will se
lect one student from the
Jackson county area to re
ceive a $500 scholarship for
the 1961-62 school year. The
award is one of 26 such edu
cational grants given through
out Oregon, Nevada and Cali
fornia to high school seniors
who will graduate this spring
and attend college in the fall.
Proctor said recipients of
the awards may attend any
four-year college or universi
ty in the country, and that
there is no condition concern
ing educational endeavor.
Applications are available
at Medford, Phoenix, Crater,
Eagle Point, Prospect, Ash
land, Butte Falls and St.
Mary's High schools. Candi
dates from Rogue River High
are included in the Grants
Pass terminal area.
All applications must be
submitted by May 15.
residence, his vehicles, his
friends and associates, his de
scription, his method of opera
tion and his criminal record.
Data Compiled
This data is continually be
ing compiled into book form
by individual police depart
ments and police associations,
and copies are sent to other
police agencies.
Also, a police department
ordinarily keeps tabs on safe
burglars in its area, and if one
of them is seen to head out of
town, an all points bulletin is
sent via teletype informing
other police agencies of his
direction, possible destination
and his means of transporta
tion. Police agencies along the
safe burglar's route are then
alerted to keep an eye out for
him. If he enters their area,
they record this fact, and if he
leaves, they also record this
fact.
But police don't always
know who all of the safe bur
glars are. Of the eight men
who were arrested here re
cently, only two of them had
previously come to the atten
tion of police. The remaining
six were apparently first of
fenders.
Medford police hope that
with the recent arrests the ac
tivities of safe burglars may
be curtailed locally. But, Per
kins said it is only a matter
of time until new ones crop
up, or the old ones get out of
prison and resume their trade.
Medford
Tribune
SECTION D
MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 1961
PAGES 1 to 8
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