Officers Robert Vandergrift (left) and J.D. Russell, are working on the campaign against auto larceny. Photo by Jessica Milicevic
From the "Local Paper"
According to Officer J.D. Russell, the community coordinator for the South Division, larceny from vehicles is one of the top crimes in south Charlotte.
In the past six months, there have been 95 reports of larceny from a vehicle in south Charlotte.
The division has watched these numbers grow and decided to take preventative measures as the holiday season approaches.
"During the holiday season is when we see the most cars getting broken into," said Russell. "Instead of waiting for cars to get broken into and then giving (citizens) tips on safety, we wanted to get a head start and let them know now."
The campaign consists of a police check-point from 5-7 p.m. twice a week. The officers park at various intersections in a selected neighborhood and pass out fliers to the drivers.
"The fliers have safety tips on the back, but the picture on the front is the most important part," said Russell. "It gives people a visual of what could happen to their cars."
The picture depicts a car window that has been shattered, the inside of the car completely cleaned out.
Russell said it's not people from the area who are breaking into cars, but teenagers from other parts of the city.
"Property values are high here," said Russell. "It's the reason teenagers come here to break into cars; they know they can get expensive items to resell."
Today, the CMPD South Division Officers will be in Raintree from 5-7 p.m. Police will be meeting with community members before the checkpoint begins at 4:45 p.m. at the Raintree Clubhouse.
6 comments:
This is great, Cedar! Thanks for this story!!
Also saw some signs (I think it was the Hickory Grove Division) reminding us to lock our car doors, etc. that got my attention and made me more aware of what is going on!!
It's things like these that really help in the neighborhoods to keep us informed about what is really going on and what to be aware of!!
CMPD is doing a great job "on the streets"!!
One of the few good things RoMo is allowing the boots on the street to do is use the airwaves and print media to make people more aware.
So I agree this is good stuff for South Charlotte.
I don't think any of this was rodney's idea....
But I do think you will see more and more different ways to "communicate" to try to keep crime down....'cause his "numbers" are gonna catch up with him.
And from what I hear, there are actually LESS "boots on the ground", and those that are, are doing more.
Yes its a shame that people can't leave personal items in their vehicle for fear a POS will break into their car and steal them, but honestly does it take that much commons sense for people to realize lock your doors, don't leave your purse ,laptop, wallet, ipod ect in your vehicle. now leo have to pass out common sense flyers. People need to take some responsibility for their own self, you don't have to be a victim forever ...
Peope are morons and I'd jsut as soon CMPD chase the bad guys after the crime rather that trying educate the idiots who don't have enough sense to lock the car.
On the plus side keeping the B&E rates down might help with insurance costs so kudos to the South Divison.
Uh, Houston we have problem.
Shattered car windows come from locking your car, not leaving it unlocked. Crackheads in DC used to use old sparkplugs to do the deed -- items of value in plain site or not.
When I had a 1969 Mustang convertible I PURPOSELY left it unlocked as a utility knife to a vinyl top puts you out $1500 regardless if the perp finds anything to steal. Sure enough I had my glovebox tossed a couple times but never lost a top. I coulda probably left the keys in the thing as well -- it was manual steering/brakes with a clutch from hell, it was almost impossible for someone to jump in and drive it, let alone steal it.
I'd have to say part of the problem in neighborhoods like Raintree is multiple cars parked in driveways, streets giving perps cover to "shop" among them.
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