About 20 home burglaries have been reported over the past 90 days across three inside-the-Beltline neighborhoods. 10 of them appear to be connected, with at least $350,000 in property missing, according to the Raleigh Police Department, which is investigating the cases.
The cases have been reported in the Coley Forest, Sunset Hills and Budleigh neighborhoods that stretch along Oberlin Road and Glenwood Avenue between Oberlin Village and Crabtree Valley Mall.
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Liles Dunnigan, who has lived in her home for eight years, returned from a Labor Day weekend trip to find her alarm on and the back door kicked in.
“They had gone in my closet and sawed into my safe,” Dunnigan said. “You always think this will never happen to us."
The burglaries are raising questions among residents about police resources as Raleigh grows.
Raleigh's population grew about 12% between 2015 and 2025, according to U.S. Census data. But the city’s police force has grown less than half as quickly, city data show. The city currently has roughly 800 officer positions, but some of those positions are vacant.
“How is one investigator going to solve, you know, 17 break-ins that have happened in a single summer?” Dunnigan said.
A spokesperson for the Raleigh Police Department said staffing shortages aren’t limiting patrols or investigations.
LaToya Hughes, a Raleigh Police spokesperson, said detectives handle multiple cases at a time and that investigations can take longer when officers need to gather and verify information or obtain records from outside entities.