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Staff Sgt. Keith Hobbs said Monday that in the past months, “hundreds” of cars have brazenly been broken into, with thieves grabbing everything from spare change to cameras and laptops. “A lot of areas have been hit in the city,” Hobbs said. “We‘ve had a real rash of vehicle break-ins. “I was looking at reports the other day, and they go back to July. That‘s when the real increase hit, and it was random across the city, pretty much.” There are hot spots, however, Hobbs said. Friday, for example, police ran a special initiative in the area of the Fort William Gardens, where dozens of cars have been broken into over the last few months, often during evening hockey games. Members of the police community response team and neighbourhood policing unit, working undercover, set up surveillance around the Gardens during the Lakehead University Thunderwolves game, police said, Officers observed a male attempting to enter several vehicles in a parking lot and arrested him. During the investigation, officers discovered several other vehicles had been entered. A Thunder Bay man was charged with theft under $5,000, attempted theft under $5,000, mischief under $5,000 and possession of burglary tools. “We do a lot of patrols around that area,” Hobbs said. “But this took a special project to take this guy down finally.” He said police are considering Friday‘s efforts a success, and are likely to run similar projects in other problem areas. As for prevention, Hobbs said locking doors is effective, even more so when coupled with keeping valuable items out of sight. “Chances are, a person‘s not going to smash into a vehicle if they don‘t see anything,” he said. “What they‘re doing is they‘re randomly walking down streets, residential streets, and trying door handles. If the door‘s locked, they‘ll move on to another (vehicle). “If they see valuables in the vehicle that are substantial, they‘ll take a window out.” Top of Page |
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September 2, 2010, 8:22 am |