By PATRICK CLOONAN Daily News Staff Writer

pcloonan@dailynewsemail.com

After another break-in at a home in Forward Township, police are advising residents to watch out for unusual visitors driving around their neighborhoods.

“There have been different types of vehicles floating around,” township Officer Robert Curdie said Tuesday. “Try to get a description of the vehicle and how many people are in it.” Township police are investigating a break-in reported sometime before 4 p.m. Monday along the 6800 block of Wall Road, near the intersection with Roberts Hollow Road.

“We had a daylight burglary,” Curdie said. “An unknown actor or actors entered the home and stole a TV, money, jewelry, video games and other items.” The time element is one of the differences between Monday’s break-in and the home invasion Oct. 20 along Church Hollow Road, in which an elderly couple was accosted and robbed of $68,000 in cash from two safes.

No one was home during Monday’s burglary, and it occurred across the street from the township fire hall.

“It’s not like the more secluded area of the home

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invasion,” Curdie said. “The search is still on in that case.” Township police also are interested in strangers such as the trio seen in a “Toyotatype pickup truck with a freezer trying to sell meat,” Curdie said. “We’ve been seeing more and more of these vehicles.” In another case, the Forward officer said, “I got a call from a resident about four or five black males going around saying they’re selling carpet cleaner.” Curdie said burglars have been known to knock on a door, see if anyone is home, and either to scope it and come back if no one is home, or to distract anyone who answers the door.

One problem is that witnesses see what is happening but do not call police until days later.

Curdie said people who see “any type of suspicious vehicle” with occupants trying to “sell any type of item” should call 911 while those strangers still are in the neighborhood.

“Try to get a description of the vehicle, the license plate, direction of flight and call us,” Curdie said. “Even if more than one person is inside the house, if they’re still there, call.” In much of the township, a 911 call will get Allegheny County dispatchers, though closer to Monongahela the call might go to dispatchers in Washington County.

Either way, he said, it is faster than leaving a message at the Forward police station.