There have been 21 auto burglaries since Tuesday, 11 of which
happened Thursday alone, according to the Gilroy Police
Department.
There have been 21 auto burglaries since Tuesday, 11 of which happened Thursday alone, according to the Gilroy Police Department.
“We were hit hard Thursday night and the couple days before that,” said GPD Sgt. Robert Locke-Paddon. “There’s somebody out there going crazy.”
Locke-Paddon declined to speculate on the reason behind the rapid increase, but he did say the number of burglaries and thefts between January and September 2007 had jumped 22 percent from the same period in 2006. He cautioned, though, that the rise included commercial, residential and petty thefts – not just auto burglaries, during which a person must enter a vehicle and steal something.
Auto burglary numbers for the last quarter of 2007 are not available yet, but GPD Crime Analyst Phyllis Ward said she expected to finish compiling the data by next week.
Amid this week’s rash of auto theft, a few connections appear.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, for instance, an unknown suspect stole the license plates from two Ford pick-ups on the 400 block of Mayock Road, according to Community Service Officer Maria Cabatingan.
The remaining 19 burglaries this week usually occurred at night and were nearly all characterized by a smashed passenger window, which allowed perpetrators easy access to items such as iPods, purses, cash, clothing, credit cards, construction tools, stereos, CDs, laptops and in one case, even a rear bumper.
At least one other nearby community has also seen a rapid increase in burglaries this week. There were 25 car burglaries alone throughout Santa Cruz County between Saturday night and Monday evening, according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Fred Plageman. He added that there have been 40 since the first of the year.
Gilroy police officials have said in the past that warmer weather tends to bring out auto burglars because milder climates make parking-lot perambulations an easier task. Again, Locke-Paddon declined to speculate on the reasons behind the recent upsurge because there has not been enough time for an official investigation.
Available statistics do, however, show numerous vehicle burglaries last October. While warmer weather welcomes outdoor activity, the flip side is that colder weather also means people leave their cars running in the driveway so they will warm up before the morning commute, Sgt. Jim Gillio said.
Residents should take all valuables out of their cars or, if they cannot remove them, hide them, Gillio said. In addition, residents should mark valuables and record serial numbers so that, if recovered, the items can be returned. These practices could help cut back the sustained rate of auto burglaries that have mounted since summer.
As is typical, auto burglaries peaked last July with 57, according to police. In addition to auto burglaries – during which a person must enter a vehicle and steal something – petty thefts from unlocked vehicles also were rampant, police said.
In the first days of November, at least 11 burglaries were reported.
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