With only essential businesses open during the coronavirus pandemic, Portland police have noticed a significant increase in commercial burglaries of retails shops and others that are closed.

Most are occurring at night and patrol officers are paying more attention on their evening shifts, Burglary Detective Darren Posey said Friday.

The bureau has recorded 174 commercial burglaries from March 12 through April 5, an 80 percent increase compared to the number of burglaries for the same period averaged over the last three years, or 96.7 burglaries, according to police.

Burglars have swiped cash registers, phones and bank bags in plain view.

Business owners should take inventories of their stock and equipment, work to better secure their properties and remove anything visible from their window or display cases of potential value, police said.

“Remove that opportunity,’’ Posey said.

Local residents also should look out for the businesses near them and report anything suspicious.

“Often community members are the best eyes on these cases,’’ and the information they share helps lead to arrests, Posey said.

On April 1, for example, a resident called 911 after she heard glass breaking near her apartment on Northwest Sixth Avenue.

That helped police nab a 32-year-old man now accused of breaking into Cal Skate Skateboards early that morning. An officer spotted JoJo M. Brittain walking away from the store holding several skateboards, hoodies and a pair of shoes, according to Thomas Cleary, a Multnomah County deputy district attorney.

Police found a rear window of the shop broken and a window next to the front door smashed as well. The owner estimated the cost to repair the windows at $3,000, according to court records.

On March 21, 18-year-old twins, a brother and sister who are high school seniors with no prior criminal record, used an ax to smash the front door of the Oregon Weedery marijuana store on Northwest Kearney Street, police and prosecutors said.

Someone spotted the teens walking to the business carrying the ax and started to film them and alerted police, Posey said. Officers responded at 4:23 a.m. and caught Elisha and Dov Hirschfield, who were running away, according to court records.

Elisha Hirschfield told police that he and his sister wanted to burn off some energy and do something "reckless'' for the "thrill of it,'' Deputy District Attorney Alexander H. Garcia wrote in a probable cause affidavit. They were each accused of second-degree burglary.

With the increase in commercial burglaries, police also are noticing an increase in bicycle thefts -- many from secure storage areas, said Officer Dave Sanders of the bike theft task force.

While bike thefts typically increase in spring with warmer weather when more people are out riding bikes, Sanders said he believes people also are taking advantage of the pandemic when fewer people are around to witness the thefts.

Sanders hasn’t been immune to bike theft himself.

A few months ago, he said he had his personal bike stolen after he handcuffed it to a bike rack outside the Multnomah County Courthouse downtown. A second bike that Sanders had secured to the front of a police car was stolen when the officer turned his back to the car.

He urged bicycle owners to always secure their bikes with a heavy-duty lock, even if the bikes are left indoors, and to register their bicycles.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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