As car thefts continue to rise in New Canaan, the head of the Police Commission last week urged residents to lock up and ensure valuables are removed from parked vehicles both at home and in public places.
Despite the upward trend, “people continue to leave their keys in their cars,” Commission Chair Paul Foley said during the appointed body’s June 16 meeting, held via videoconference.
“They continue to leave bags and valuables on the front seats, back seats, visible,” Foley said. “Windows aren’t being broken as I understand—except in the parks, if they leave a bag in the parks, the windows have been smashed. Again, none of these perpetrators are townspeople, that we know of. They are most coming from gangs out of town. It’s more of a Bridgeport-Waterbury issue, but they come down here as either initiation to a gang or something like that. But please note that if you leave your keys in your car, you’ve got a pretty good chance of the car being stolen.”
According to data released at the meeting by Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, New Canaan had four more stolen vehicles in May, bringing the total for 2021 up to 18 through the first five months of the year. In 2020, the figure stood at just eight for the same period, according to data from the police.
New Canaan also had five more larcenies from motor vehicles in May, bringing the total to 22 through May 31 of this year, compared to 20 one year ago.
Police also have reported two more cars stolen in June, including a Mercedes GL550 taken from the Brookwood Lane driveway that had been left unlocked with the keys inside, and had about $150,000 left inside it.
Yes, this is our responsibility to lock our cars and hide any valuables, and is the main reason we have an increase in these crimes. However, what is the NCPD doing to solve these crimes and deter them going forward? Are they increasing patrols at night? Are they conducting surveillance in frequently hit areas, or using bait cars to catch anyone? Were the recent smash and grabs from locked cars in the park and the high school parking lot solved? We need the NCPD to do more than tell us to lock our cars.
I would not put the onus on NCPD for the false sense of security of New Canaanites. Lock up! Our comprehensive insurance rates will go up because of these thefts.
Our neighbors who have had their cars stolen because they left their keys in their cars should be named and shamed. There is simply no excuse for this. They are quite simply leaving bait. For those who consider themselves victims because their car was stolen with their own keys I say you are 1% victim and 99% a massively inconsiderate neighbor. My feeling is that front page disclosure of all involved would be the most effective method at reducing auto theft.
I have great respect for the NCPD and the work they do but perhaps it’s time to stop blaming the citizens of New Canaan and start doing some more pro-active police work. There seems to be more interest in building a new police station than stopping this ongoing crime wave.
I would not have felt this way until last week when one of our vehicles ( yes unlocked but no keys or valuables within ) was entered and ransacked in our well lit driveway. Although nothing was damaged I decided that I should report the intrusion to NCPD under the idea that it might help them in their ongoing investigation. I think that I would have received a better response if I was reporting a barking dog. There was almost zero interest from the desk officer in what I was reporting nor has there been any follow up.
As citizens we have a responsibility to protect our personal property but our well compensated police department has a responsibility to protect the community at large. It’s time to stop blaming the community and start doing better police work to put an end to these continuing car thefts. Maybe there needs to be extra patrols after midnight when most of these crimes seem to take place. There is not a lot of traffic at 2 a.m. which would certainly make it easier to spot suspicious vehicles at the points of entry.
I fully agree that those leaving cars unlocked with the keys inside are 100% the cause of this problem, that isn’t in question. However it’s also the responsibility of the NCPD to solve crimes. Have any of these been solved, including those in the last few weeks which involved breaking into locked cars in the daytime? At some point, if this isn’t stopped, this will escalate to become more brazen (ex: home break-ins), and someone is going to get hurt.
Not only solve crimes but prevent them. To suggest that its a “Waterbury/ Bridgeport” problem is not a solution to New Canaan’s car break-in problem. What data supports this conjecture? Also could escalate into citizens taking matters into their own hands to protect their property which is not good either.
This is not going to stop until people start locking their vehicles and not leave anything in sight for the taking…don’t know how many times I’ve see people leave their cars running just to run into a store…