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Residents On Edge In Tenafly After Series Of Burglaries

TENAFLY, NJ (CBSNewYork) -- A series of brazen burglaries has a quiet Bergen County suburb on edge.

There have been six incidents in Tenafly over the last four weeks, generally in the same section of town.

Officials say all of them took place between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

"We're making sure that our lights are on all the time, we're making sure that we use our alarm, we're making sure that our doors are locked even during the day," resident Babette Harrison told CBS 2's Jay Dow.

The Tenafly Police Department declined to comment over concerns additional publicity will cause unnecessary panic, but a spokesperson did say that the department has stepped up its investigation.

Police say the burglars struck twice during the recent power outage caused by the October snow storm. In all of the incidents, the suspects went straight for the master bedroom taking jewelry and cash.

Some security systems were activated, others were not. But that didn't matter because they were in and out in a matter of minutes.

Jennifer Yanowitz, whose home was one of the first to be hit, told CBS 2's John Slattery that police arrived at her residence nine minutes after her alarm went off but it wasn't fast enough.

"They were in and out really quickly with the alarm going while they were in the dark," Yanowitz said.

One homeowner said he's not taking his safety for granted.

"I take it seriously, it bothers me," said Edward Snyder. "Am I doing anything differently? No. I've always tried to be safe. I've always locked my doors, so I'm not really doing anything differently."

"We have an alarm," Karen Lazon said.  "We don't use it as much as we should and now we definitely mean to take more precautions than we have been."

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