UTICA - A couple of years ago the Utica Police Department disbanded its burglary unit simply because there wasn't enough manpower to keep it going.  After 800 reported burglaries last year, Public Safety Commissioner and Acting Police Chief Dan LaBella says it's time to bring the unit back.

'It's going to be on the front burner," LaBella said.  "We're going to have it and also it cuts down on the workload of other investigators where now they can concentrate more on the incidents they have."

The City of Utica has seen its fair share of burglaries.  Records show, last year alone 600 of the 800 burglary cases were solved.

Labella says the newly reformed burglary unit at UPD is not just about solving those crimes.  "It's an important unit within our police department because we find when a burglary does occur it's usually several other crimes are interwoven into burglary," LaBella said.

For some 50 years, the UPD had a specific group of investigators working strictly on burglary related crimes.  In 2006, the department disolved the unit due to lack of staffing.

"A specialized unit also comes down to manpower," LaBella said.  "If you can supply the man power needed. we did some structuring of the police department where we are able to obtain the manpower for this unit."

Labella will not disclose how many investigators will make up the unit.  But he says it is a done deal and will form in the coming weeks.