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For six years, smoking meth and stealing consumed W's life. His habit eventually cost $300 to $500 a day, and he supported it by taking other people's property from truck beds, garages, barns or businesses.
With burglaries up 26 percent in Modesto compared with last year, victims and law enforcement agencies are at somewhat of a loss. Victims are often frustrated by limited police response. And detectives are buried each week beneath stacks of property crime reports, most with little physical evidence. In a two-part series, we'll tell their stories and look at the trends.