OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced the creation of a new task force to address the rise in break-ins of upscale homes in exclusive neighborhoods in metro Detroit.
The task force, known as SEM CAB, or Southeast Michigan Collaborate Arrest Prosecute, is comprised of the Auburn Hills Police Department, the Berkley Police Department, the Birmingham Police Department, the Bloomfield Hills Police Department, the Bloomfield Township Police Department, the Canton Police Department, the Chesterfield Township Police Department, the Farmington Hills Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Franklin Police Department, the Grosse Pointe Farms Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Keego Harbor Police Department, the Lake Angelus Police Department, the Lathrup Village Police Department, the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, Michigan State Police, the Northville Township Police Department, the Novi Police Department, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, the Oxford Village Police Department, the Rochester Police Department, the Shelby Township Police Department, the Southfield Police Department, the Sylvan Lake Police Department, the Troy Police Department, US Border Patrol, US Secret Service, the Walled Lake Police Department, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, the Waterford Township Police Department, and White Lake Township Police Department.
Members from several of the communities joined Bouchard at the news conference where the following surveillance video was released.
Bouchard said the video was released to show how the crews operate.
Today's news conference was held as an update to one Bouchard held several months ago to announce that a suspected international criminal operation was being conducted in our area.
Related: International crime ring suspected in burglaries of luxury homes across Oakland County
Bouchard says transnational gangs are operating across the country, including in our area. They are targeting high-end homes, jewelry stores, and cars in many different areas in the U.S. However, Bouchard says Oakland County has largely been hit by crews targeting homes.
During the news conference, Bouchard says they believe 30 to 40 homes have been hit by the crews since September, with five robberies happening in various communities just this past weekend.
Bouchard described the crews, which are believed to consist of four to six people, as highly functional and well-trained. They reportedly use a jammer to overcome wireless security systems that depend on WiFi to operate. The crews are all dressed in black, with backpacks, and gloves. Bouchard says they are non-confrontational and their goal is to get in and out of the homes quickly.
The crews are targeting multi-million dollar homes in a variety of communities.
Bouchard says the crews target high-end homes that they can approach from the back without being observed. They enter through the windows, often on the second story. They are looking for high-end valuables that can be sold off quickly and have been known to take smaller to medium-sized safes, as long as they can transport them to another location.
Bouchard says a safe from one of their robberies was recovered in Livingston County.
Bouchard says four people are in custody in the Oakland County Jail in connection with this ring and that others are in custody in other parts of the country, and they are working to connect them to robberies in Michigan.
The crews are mostly from Latin America, with Bouchard saying the crews working SE Michigan are believed to be mostly Chilean. They are believed to strike quickly in one area before moving on to another.
Bouchard says people looking to protect their homes should focus on redundant systems that do not rely just on WiFi for communication.
He also says people who live in areas that fit the pattern of the robberies should consider calling police if their WiFi goes down and they cannot figure out why as that may point investigators to an area that is being targeted or hit.
