During September, 16 residential break-ins occurred an equivalent of more than one every other day.

One man on Wednesday night told Lansford Borough Council it happened to him, and said if he's home when it happens, there could be a shooting.Even a borough council member was a victim.Many are happening in broad daylight.Richard Vavra told the council, "These homes are being targeted. My home was broken into on Labor Day. I went for a bike ride."He said within 15 minutes somebody broke into his house. "Someone's watching," he said to the council, saying the break-in happened at 10:30 a.m.The intruder entered through the basement, he said.Council member Tommy Vadyak said his house was broken into. He said someone told him at 9:30 a.m. they saw someone outside his house but waited until he came home from work to tell him about it. By then the burglary occurred."I got the guy on camera," he said.He also said, "When you see something, pick up the phone and call 911.""Don't take the law into your own hands, either," he said.The Lansford Police Department officer-in-charge presented a written statement to council, urging residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the 911 center.Council President Martin Ditsky said, "I know it's not the town we grew up in."One resident asked if the borough has enough police officers.Last month dialogue centered on how understaffed the department is.A retirement and officers getting jobs in other departments left Lansford with three full-time and four part-time officers.Council member Mary Soberick said another part-time member is being hired.The borough's Civil Service Commission has been activated to begin the process of hiring a new full-time officer.At last month's meeting, resident Judith Orth had complained about problems of crime in the community.She said, "This town and neighboring towns I feel are under siege ... break-ins, robberies, drugs."She suggested Lansford look into forming a joint police department with other communities.Council member Rose Mary Cannon said this has been considered several times but none of the neighboring municipalities appeared interested.She said to Orth, "I agree with you. Anyone who reads the newspaper can see what's happened to our very nice community."Soberick criticized council last month for dragging their feet on hiring new police officers, saying she brought up the matter back in May without action.Last month she said, "So here we are, less and less (police protection), more crime all over."Although Lansford has had its share of break-ins, so far the problem doesn't appear to have spread to neighboring Summit Hill.Summit Hill Chief of Police Joseph Fittos said several months ago there had been a rash of break-ins, mostly at businesses.No burglaries have occurred recently, he said.