Elgin police: Don't make it easy for criminals to steal car valuables
After a rash of car burglaries between Tuesday and Thursday that involved 24 unlocked vehicles in Elgin, police are reminding residents to keep their doors locked and their eyes open.
According to police reports, 23 burglaries occurred in the same west-side neighborhood Tuesday and Wednesday: seven on Sexauer Avenue, four on Clifton Avenue, three each on Heine and Hoxie avenues, two each on Triggs and Weston avenues and one each on North McLean Boulevard and in the 1500 block of Lawrence Avenue.
One more occurred Thursday on the city's east side, in the 400 block of North Grove Avenue.
In seven cases, the vehicles were ransacked, but nothing was missing.
Others weren't so lucky.
All told, seven GPS units, one GPS charger and window mount, one laptop computer, one stereo, an iPod, $300 in cash, at least $141 in loose change, a spare key and remote entry key fob, various credit cards, papers and identification cards were taken. Most of the burglarized vehicles were parked in driveways.
Ironically, this comes after police data showed vehicular burglaries fell five percent between June 2008 and June 2009, Deputy Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said.
"Some people are just making it way too easy," he said. "I wish we lived in a time and place where people could leave their valuables out and not have them taken. But unfortunately, we don't live in that time or place."
Officers have made no arrests and say it's too soon to tell whether they're looking for one person or several.
Police ask that you keep your valuables out of sight, light your driveways and call 911 if you see suspicious people and juveniles out past curfew - beyond midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and after 11 p.m. the rest of the week.
If you think someone has rifled through your vehicle, call police before you get in so they can get evidence that may link someone to the crime.
And above all else, please lock your car doors.
"It's amazing how much we can reduce crime if people would just lock their doors," Swoboda said.
Daily Herald Staff Writer Emily Jurlina contributed to this report.