After having its front glass broken and $300 stolen from a safe twice within a week, employees at CitiFinancial on Indiana Avenue decided, in the words of branch manager Vickie Brown, &#8220this is getting old.”

So when an intruder tossed a hunk of concrete through the business’ window late Monday or early Tuesday morning and headed for the money, the intruder found a note waiting instead: &#8220Not this time.”

&#8220Hopefully, since they didn’t get any money this time, they’ll leave us alone,” Brown said.

It’s a desire Brown shares with local business owners after a rash of break-ins, attempted burglaries and thefts – 37 in all reported to Vicksburg Police in January, more than half of them in a square-mile area near Interstate 20 encompassing Mission 66, Indiana Avenue, North and South Frontage roads, Halls Ferry Road and Pemberton Square Boulevard – that have cost targets thousands in missing goods and vandalism.

In contrast, during the whole of 2005, city police reported 151 business break-ins, or just more than 12 per month. At least one of the crimes reported as a break-in appeared to be only the activation of an alarm, and police log those separately from break-ins.

Moving, or removing, cash is also part of the strategy at CDS Home Care on Mission 66, another victim of multiple break-ins in the past week, where employees are looking into an alarm system as well as getting rid of in-store cash after reporting $40 stolen on Jan. 25 and $270 missing Tuesday.

&#8220We’re going to be a little more cautious about securing the money,” said James Anderson, a customer service representative at CDS. &#8220That won’t happen any more. He’s not going to get any more money.”

Police can’t be sure if the same person or group of people is causing all of the damage, but they can speculate based on what they do know: most of the burglaries and attempts involve breaking out a glass door or window, and most occur as part of a cluster in a single night, said Deputy Chief Richard O’Bannon.

&#8220In the past month when we’ve had them, they’ve all been one night. They’re not here and there,” O’Bannon said, noting that, in the case of clusters, &#8220it’s more than likely a single individual.”

Four nights in particular last month saw a string of break-ins in an isolated area. On Jan. 10, the front glass was broken out of Signs First, SpeediPrint and Sherwin-Williams, all in Post Plaza on North Frontage Road. In that string, $90 was reported missing from Signs First.

On Jan. 13., glass was knocked out of Horseface Harry’s, Edward Jones Investment, River Outfitters and Branning Enterprises, all on Halls Ferry Road just south of Interstate 20, though nothing was reported missing from any of the businesses.

On Jan. 25, four health care-related businesses – CDS Home Care, Patient’s Choice Hospice, Mission Primary Care and the dental office of Kurt Schrock – all in the 1900 block of Mission 66, were entered, and $40 was reported missing from CDS. Early Tuesday, another business in the same block, Toney’s Restaurant and Lounge, was also hit, but nothing was reported missing.

On Tuesday, four of the night’s seven reported break-ins occurred in a small area on Indiana Avenue – where CitiFinancial was entered and five trimmers valued at $48 each were reported missing from Sally Beauty Supply – and Mission 66, where CDS reported $270 missing and the door to the dental office of Robert Sadler had been kicked in in an unsuccessful attempt to enter the office.

Police patrol every night in designated precincts throughout the city, said Capt. Mark Culbertson, but the number of rounds an officer can make is limited because routine checks take a back seat to specific calls dispatched through Emergency 911. Officers on routine patrols discovered roughly half of the break-ins last month.

&#8220Patrols are out there and they’re doing their jobs,” said O’Bannon. &#8220But how big is Vicksburg? How many businesses are there?…(A burglar) could be in any of 10,000 businesses. We just have to be there when he’s there.” After annexing 21.5 square miles in 1990, the city covers about 34 square miles.

Anderson said the cash register after the latest break-in at CDS showed it had been opened at 9:30 p.m. Monday, but it was not discovered by a patrol who noticed the broken glass until around 3 a.m. Tuesday.

&#8220It’s hard to say a business is going to be checked five times in a night when it may be checked twice,” said Culbertson. &#8220It may get checked 20 times.”

Added to the cost of any stolen cash or items is replacing the glass in doors and windows, said Johnny Price, owner of Price’s Glass and Mirror on South Madison Street. A simple, 36-by-72-inch, clear, quarter-inch-thick pane can run more than $300 if the after-hours emergency service is required.

&#8220In the last two weeks, it’s been horrible,” said Price, whose own business was broken into Friday, when a door had been pried open, though nothing was reported missing.

Price’s best guess, he said, based on the fact that so many valuable items had been left untouched in many of the burglaries, is that cash-strapped kids were breaking in looking exclusively for money. Brown said she suspected a group may be dropping one or two people off at the businesses, then returning a couple of minutes later. Anderson said the culprit probably went inside the offices first to check for an alarm system.

Police, however, have been slower to speculate, or to reveal methods for catching the culprit or culprits.

&#8220We’re going to arrest him and put him in jail,” said O’Bannon when asked about VPD’s plans in the cases.

Until then, business owners said they’ll continue to remove cash, install alarms and keep fingers crossed.

&#8220Unless one of us wants to sit here until midnight,” joked Anderson in the CDS office Tuesday. &#8220I don’t think they want to pay us that much overtime.”