Elgin seeing spike in motor vehicle burglary, trespassing

Pandemic-inspired unemployment fraud is way down in Elgin compared to last year at this time, but motor vehicle burglaries and trespassing cases are up, according to the latest crime stats.

Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley discussed the city's latest crime trends this week during her Lalley in the Fox Valley YouTube show. It was the first episode to feature a full Spanish-language translation.

The numbers show an overall 26% decrease in the most serious crimes in the city compared to January 2021. Officials said almost all of that improvement stems from a major drop in unemployment fraud that spiked as the COVID-19 pandemic gutted the local economy.

In contrast, the police department logged 23 reports of motor vehicle burglaries so far in 2022. That compares to eight such incidents this same time last year. Motor vehicle burglaries include everything from items stolen from, typically unlocked, vehicles to the entire vehicle being stolen.

The last time the city saw such a spike, it began the "If You Like It, Lock It, and Put It in Your Pocket" campaign to bring awareness to simple prevention measures. Those include always locking a vehicle and not leaving a vehicle unattended to warm-up in the winter.

"When it's cold, people think, 'I'm going to warm up my car for a few minutes. What can happen?' and then something happens," Lalley said.

Likewise, reports of trespassing are up by an additional 20 cases this year compared to last year at the same time. That's on the high end from what the city has experienced, on average, over the last five years. Officials indicated the most typical trespassing cases involve people refusing to leave a retail store when asked, as well as domestic situations where uninvited guests refuse to leave private property.