VERGENNES — Vergennes police reported three incidents of cash being stolen between Feb. 4 and 10, and they are urging citizens to report suspicious behavior promptly.
Two of the thefts occurred on Feb. 4. A woman reported $22 stolen from an unlocked car on Comfort Hill, and a man reported $640 stolen from the glove compartment of a car parked at the Small City Market.
On Feb. 7 police went to the Hillside Acres apartment complex when a woman there reported that cash had been taken from her apartment.
While police were there, the resident told them that other residents had been talking about suspicious incidents that had not been reported to police, including jiggled doorknobs, people looking through windows, and even one incident where someone had allegedly tried to enter an apartment through a rear window.
Police Chief George Merkel asked all residents to report anything suspicious as quickly as possible. He said, for example, descriptions of people and/or vehicles or license plate numbers could prove to be helpful in solving crimes, and that police never know what piece of information will prove to be useful.
“We urge people not to feel they are going to be a hindrance or a burden,” Merkel said. “They need to call us immediately.”
In other action between Feb. 4 and 10, Vergennes police:
•  On Feb. 4 issued a no-trespass order against a local man on behalf of a city couple.
•  On Feb. 4 learned that a Vergennes Union High School employee is still being called dozens of times a day by a man seeking to collect a debt from a school employee, a debt that police said is related to a scam; police are continuing to work on the case with the FBI.
•  On Feb. 4 stood by at a West Main Street residence while a former resident picked up her belongings.
•  On Feb. 6 checked out on behalf of Vermont State Police a suspicious vehicle at a Turkey Lane home in Panton and found no problem.
•  On Feb. 6 provided information obtained by Detective Jason Ouellette to VSP about burglaries in the Waltham area. This information helped lead to five arrests made by VSP on Feb. 7. Merkel again praised cooperation among local law enforcement agencies.
•  On Feb. 7 attended a community forum in Addison devoted to discussing the rash of break-ins in that town (see story in the A section on the community forum).
•  On Feb. 8 took a report of illegal dumping on Hopkins Road and found a television set, about which police notified the public works department.
•  On Feb. 8 helped a motorist who couldn’t climb Battery Hill in a snowstorm; police directed traffic to allow the driver to back out onto MacDonough Drive.
•  On Feb. 8 alerted the public works department that a southbound tractor-trailer truck could not climb the southbound hill on West Main Street; the department plowed and sanded the road to get traffic moving again.
•  On Feb. 8 told the drivers of improperly parked cars on Green Street to move them.
•  On Feb. 8 responded on behalf of VSP to Panton, where a tractor-trailer truck had slid off the road.
•  On Feb. 9 ticketed a car in violation of the city’s winter overnight parking ban.
•  On Feb. 9 arrested Anthony W. Pelkey, 21, of Granville, N.Y., on an active U.S. Army warrant for being AWOL, an action taken after he allegedly failed to stop for a Main Street stoplight. Police also ticketed Pelkey for that offense, and he was lodged at the Chittenden County Correctional Center.
•  On Feb. 9 accepted a found license plate at the station.
•  On Feb. 10 backed up VSP on Hunt Road in New Haven with what police described as a mental health issue.
•  On Feb. 10 helped a motorist get into a locked car on Green Street.
•  On Feb. 10 helped judge an elementary school anti-substance abuse poster contest at the St. Peter’s parish hall; the contest was jointly sponsored by the city department and the Knights of Columbus.
•  On Feb. 10 responded to a one-car accident on Adele Drive.
•  On Feb. 10 checked out a report of a gunshot on Scovil Lane and determined it was an ATV backfiring.
•  On Feb. 10 began investigating an allegation of inappropriate behavior by a man toward a woman outside the Small City Market.