Annapolis Police Battle Thefts From Autos
TIM PRATT
The Capital
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Walking along Duke of Gloucester Street and the surrounding neighborhood, Annapolis police Officer Ryan Thiel looked closely into one car after another.
The veteran officer was on the lookout Aug. 17 for unlocked doors and valuables -- two things any thief would relish, Thiel said.
A bag of clothes lay open on the seat of a sport utility vehicle.
A GPS was clearly visible in another.
When Thiel came upon a blue Ford Mustang with the window partially open, he looked inside and saw another GPS.
"I could fit my whole hand in that window," Thiel said.
Checking on the security of vehicles parked around Annapolis is something city officers have been doing since a spike in thefts from automobiles last summer.
Officers do it periodically in the areas they cover. Thiel does it monthly with members of the Police Department's Law Enforcement Explorer Post -- a group of 14- to 20-year-olds who are interested in law enforcement careers and receive police training.
They peer in vehicles, look for unlocked doors and scan for valuables.
When officers or Explorers come across unsecured vehicles or valuables, like electronics, they record the tag number, vehicle location and write down what they discovered. The police department then sends the vehicle owners a notice of their findings.
Officers hope the notices make residents and visitors more careful. That, in turn, will lead to fewer thefts, Thiel said.
So far, the efforts appear to be working.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 12, the last date for which statistics were available, Annapolis police reported 201 thefts from automobiles. There were 240 during the same period last year.
Only 27 of the incidents this year were a result of forced entry.
Thiel was relatively pleased with what he saw Aug. 17. Of the dozens of cars he checked, he found only a handful of unlocked doors or valuables in sight.
"It's actually looking pretty good," he said.
Karl Selinger of Crofton came across Thiel after parking his car along Duke of Gloucester Street. He said he was glad to see city police taking a proactive approach.
"I think it's terrific," Selinger said. "You hear so often on the news and in the paper about people stealing things from cars."
Selinger said he and his wife always lock their car doors and never leave valuables inside. That's what Thiel likes to hear.
"It's such a simple thing to lock your door, but that one time you don't is the time they get you," Thiel said.
Over the same weekend, police reported money was stolen from a vehicle on Childs Point Road, a cellphone was stolen from a vehicle on Cedar Ridge Court and an iPod and purse were taken from another vehicle on Cedar Ridge Court. All of the vehicles were unlocked.
The city saw the most thefts from automobiles -- during the Jan. 1 to Aug. 12 timeframe -- in 2008, when there were 366. Totals varied between 153 and 173 during that same time period over the next four years before spiking to 240 in 2013.
Eastport has been hit particularly hard by thieves over the last year, Thiel said.
Thiel and his Explorers went to Eastport Shopping Center earlier in August to check on vehicles. The group wrote up information on 30 vehicles before they ran out of forms.
They saw everything from unlocked doors to GPS devices in plain view. Police also routinely see cellphones, laptops and other electronics left in vehicles.
Windows that are left partially open are easier to break, so police encourage people to roll their windows all the way up when they leave their vehicles.
Thieves will take anything that can be pawned or sold for a quick buck, Thiel said. If residents don't want those items to be stolen, they should take them inside, he said.
"It's amazing what people will leave in their cars unsecured."
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
