By George P. Hassett

The city’s 311 constituent services hot line is moving beyond potholes and getting tough on crime. The almost two-year-old call center has traditionally been used by residents to report constituent concerns or ask for city services in neighborhoods, but beginning this week 311 will be used to help stem the rising tide of car break-ins and portable electronic thefts.

Somerville Police have partnered with the city’s 311 Call Center to create WRAP, the Web Registry Anti-Theft Program. City officials say WRAP will use online and over-the-phone registration of serial numbers to help police track lost or stolen devices from Somerville. It will come in particularly handy, they said, in combating the skyrocketing increase in car break-ins.

From Jan. 1 to Aug. 5 of this year there were 465 motor vehicle larcenies. In the same time period two years ago, there were 143. That is a 225 percent jump in Somerville car break-ins. Police say the main targets are portable electronic devices such as Global Position Systems (GPS), iPods and satellite radios. In an informal survey of break-in victims, Police Captain Paul Upton said half had GPS devices stolen, and 25 to 35 percent had iPods and satellite radios taken. In the last month, police have arrested six people for larceny from a vehicle.

And that is where WRAP is supposed to come in. Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said that by registering portable electronic devices, residents can help police identify and trace stolen property.

Acting Police Chief Robert R. Bradley said WRAP will also deter break-ins. He said residents who register receive a yellow sticker they can attach to their property and warn would-be thieves to stay away.

‚ÄúIf someone does break into your car, WRAP stickers send a message that we can trace these devices ‚Äì and we can more easily determine whether a suspect is holding stolen property. WRAP can help our detectives make cases ‚Äì and it increases the chance that a lost or misplaced device will get back to its rightful owner,‚Äù he said. 

City officials will also file any information they receive on larcenies with www.juststolen.net, a database used by police across the country to track stolen goods.

‚ÄúOnce you‚Äôre registered with WRAP, you can call the police if one of your devices goes missing, and they will be able to get the information from us to track it.  Plus, if an honest person finds and turns in a device that you‚Äôve lost, the police will have a way to identify you as the owner and return your property,‚Äù said Sean Murphy, director of constituent services for the city.

Murphy said victims of car break-ins or other thefts should always file a police report, but that having serial numbers pre-registered with WRAP can aid in follow-up and investigations.