PORT ANGELES — Police are culling through surveillance videos in their search for the culprit or culprits who committed a string of downtown burglaries.
Four businesses within a one-block area of The Gateway transit center were burglarized between last week midnight Wednesday and early Thursday morning, when the businesses opened, Deputy Chief Brian Smith said Friday.
Smith said gift certificates, paychecks, iPads and cash of undisclosed value were stolen.
The businesses were the La Belle Creperie restaurant, 222 N. Lincoln St.; Poser Yoga Studio, 128 E. Front St.; Port Angeles Dance Center, 124 E. Front St.; and a Heckman Motors parking-fare cash box in the parking garage to the west of the transit center.
The Gateway Center pavilion is the staging area for the Port Angeles Farmers Market on Saturdays.
Smith said police are examining videos shot by surveillance cameras stationed in the area by business owners and the police department but had few clues to go on.
“It takes a little time to look at direction of travel and suspects,” he said.
“We have a wide variety of video sources down there.”
Smith said there were no visible signs of forced entry from the outside of any of the businesses.
All except La Belle Creperie, located in the Harbortowne Mall, are connected by interior doors.
It appears there was forced entry into the La Belle Creperie from an interior door, Smith said.
He said someone may have hidden inside one of the other establishments and then entered the others.
“There’s a lot of possibilities on how they got in and a lot of possibilities on how they got out,” Smith said.
“We don’t have anything concrete at this time.
“We’re just going to have to see what develops.”
Smith said the last series of downtown business burglaries was in December 2014.
“Things have been pretty quiet since then.
“This is a commercial district and has things that attract, unfortunately, property criminals.”
Smith predicted the business owners will find it difficult to move forward after being victimized.
“This is more than an unpleasant event,” he said.
“For many people, it can be traumatic.”
Anyone with information pertaining to the investigation can contact Detective Shane Martin, who is also the downtown resource officer, at 360-912-0143 and smartin@cityofpa.us.
They also can provide information anonymously to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department at www.clallam.net.
Meanwhile, members of Revitalize Port Angeles have organized a private Facebook page, Port Angeles Downtown Neighborhood Watch, and offers participants a survey to gather information for police.
The survey is at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-downtownsurvey.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
