It's a dark day for Brooklyn Heights, where the idyllic brownstone utopia is being forced to acknowledge that there are disreputable blackguards in this world with less than noble intentions. There have been five broad daylight burglaries in the Heights in the past four days, and each robbery shares a common theme: the thieves targeted residences where the front door or window was left unlocked. Anytown, USA just lost its innocence.

Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, sent out a letter to local residents explaining that there are nefarious rapscallions looking for any opportunity to violate the code of ethics... even in Brooklyn Heights! "It is lovely that Heights residents are feeling so safe that they leave their doors unlocked, but it is awful to be burglarized," Stanton wrote in a letter obtained by Brooklyn Heights Blog. "And it is very, very frustrating to the police. Deputy Inspector DiPaolo has reached out to the BHA to get the word out to all of you, in the hope of preventing more of these ‘walk right in’ burglaries. Please forward this to your neighbors, and PLEASE BE SURE TO LOCK YOUR DOORS."

"Oh no, we don’t lock our doors often," longtime Brooklyn Heights resident Allen Tobias tells City Room. "You get used to a certain level of comfort and you don’t go back too easily. But I locked my door today. The burglaries were right around the corner." So there goes the neighborhood. Next thing you know, you'll have to start carrying money in your pockets instead of strolling the streets with fistfuls of cash. And we suppose you shouldn't park your car and leave the car keys in the ignition anymore, either. Seriously, it's like the Wild West over there these days!