Simple Steps Can Combat Car Break-ins

In the past two weeks 25 vehicles have been broken into or stolen in the West Ashley area, according to Charleston Police Department and Charleston County Sheriff's Office reports.

The thieves busted the windows of many of those vehicles, but the owners of several others left their cars unlocked. Law enforcement officials try to stress that people need to lock their car doors and remove all valuables from them to lessen the risk of a break-in, Charleston Police Sgt. Trevor Shelor said.

"Leave it locked, leave it empty," Shelor said.

In many cases, Shelor said, vehicle owners have gotten in the habit of leaving things like GPS systems or phone chargers in their cars, "because they feel like everyone has a GPS now, and they don't even really think of it as a valuable."

Shelor said he suggests people ask a friend or neighbor to look over their vehicle and point out anything of value that they might have missed because they've simply gotten used to having it in the car all the time.

Breaking those bad habits and creating new better habits like always locking up the car and carrying everything of value with you when you leave cut down risks associated with crimes of opportunity.

"You've got two types of car break-ins," Shelor said. "There are people that will walk down a street and pull on the handle of every car in every driveway looking for the ones that are unlocked."

"The other type is the person who breaks out the windows on a locked car when he sees something valuable inside."

He added that sometimes women would not think twice about leaving a handbag in the car because they are carrying another purse with their identification and wallet in it. But that bag remains a lure for criminals.

"Even my wife will do it sometimes, she says its not a purse it just a tote," Shelor said. "A criminal isn't going to make a distinction, if it's made of cloth and has handles they'll grab it and run down the street."

The Charleston Police Department holds regular meetings with neighborhood groups throughout the city and officers always stress the importance of prevention during those meetings, Shelor said.

Drivers can take additional measures to make their vehicles less attractive to criminals by taking some preventative measures when parking the vehicle.

At home police advise people not park where there are lots of shadows in which potential thieves can conceal themselves, and if they own the property where they live to take measures to eliminate objects and plants that will provide concealment near their parking spot.

Shelor also suggested leaving exterior lights on at night, or installing some if none are currently present.

"Most of these break-ins occur at night," he said. "They like the dark and shadows where they can hide, especially if they see a police car coming down the street. If there are no shadows there's nowhere for them to hide."

At home isn't the only place to practice prevention though, Shelor stressed. He said the department is seeing an increase in the number of break-ins at gyms and similar establishments.

"A lot of times people when they go to the gym or a karate class after work will leave their valuables in their car when they go in to work out and just take their keys with them," Shelor said. "Criminals are starting to stake those types of places out."

He suggests renting a locker in the gym if necessary to stow personal belongings rather than leaving them in a car. And he notes even locking something in a trunk isn't a foolproof option because most cars have a trunk release mechanism inside the passenger compartment.

Reporting crimes like car break-ins after the fact is an important part of making future prevention of similar crimes possible, he added.

Even with more than two dozen-reports of break-ins and outright thefts of vehicles in the past few weeks, Shelor said many are never reported, but that it is extremely important for residents to notify police when it happens.

"If you only have what looks like a small problem you don't necessarily move resources around, but if everyone reports it then you can see that there is a significant problem in an area and can move the resources to deal with it," Shelor said.

Since Thursday, Sept. 20, 25 car break-ins and vehicles thefts have been reported across West Ashley, according to police and sheriff's office reports.

One break-in was reported on Sept. 20, at 828 Savannah Highway between 9:05 - 10:30 p.m. in which someone stole a woman's purse after breaking a window, according to a report.

Four break-ins were reported on Sept. 21. At least three of the break-ins happened that Friday; one at 1115 Savannah Highway between 7:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. in which nothing was stolen, one at 1491 Savannah Highway between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. in which the owner's wallet was stolen, and one at 827 Savannah Hwy. between 6:30 and 11:40 p.m., in which nothing was stolen. Car windows were broken in all three cases, according to separate reports. The fourth, at 1351 Trailmore Drive, happened between 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20 and 6 a.m. Friday Sept. 21, where a car stereo was taken after window was broken, according to another report.

Two more car break-ins were reported on Saturday, Sept. 22, one at 2300 Savannah Highway at 12:47 a.m. in which a woman's purse was stolen from an unlocked car, according to one report, and the other at 1791 Markham St. between 9 p.m. Sept. 21 - 11 a.m. Sept. 22 in which prescription medications were stolen from an unlocked car, according to another report.

Another three break-ins were reported Monday, Sept. 24. At 2929 Marginal Road between 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. someone stole the stereo from an unlocked pick-up truck and a leaf blower that had been left in the truck-bed, according to a report. Another unlocked car was broken into and the stereo removed at 620 Butte St. between 7 p.m. Sept. 23 - 6:45 a.m. Sept. 24, according to another report. The third reported break-in happened between 8 a.m. Sept. 17 - 8 a.m. Sept. 24 at 1800 William Kenneth Drive, in which a handgun was stolen from an unlocked car.

Also on Sept. 24 a car was reported stolen from the parking lot of the Ashley Landing Mall at 1401 Sam Rittenberg Blvd.

Two vehicles were reported stolen on Sept. 26, according to separate reports. In one case a car was stolen from 1248 Lenevar Drive between 9 p.m. Sept. 25 - 3:05 a.m. Sept. 26. A witness reported seeing a tow truck remove the car from the address, but when police checked the vehicle had not been repossessed, the report stated. The other stolen vehicle was a Honda motorcycle taken from 2040 Ashley River Road between 9 p.m. Sept. 25  - 7:06 a.m. Sept. 26.

Four car break-ins were reported on Sept. 28, according to three incident reports. Two cars were broken into at 78 Ashley Hall Plantation Road between 9 p.m. Sept. 27 - 8 a.m. Sept. 28. Windows were smashed on both cars, a stereo debit card and driver's license was taken from one, and debit cards and a driver's license were taken from the other. Between midnight - 6:16 a.m. Sept. 28 someone smashed a window and stole a stereo from a car at 1751 Dogwood Road, according to another report. Nothing was stolen from an unlocked car at 1922 King Charles Court, though someone did enter the car and rifle through the glove compartment, according to another report.

Three more car break-ins were reported on Sept. 29. Someone stole a GPS unit from a jeep at 301 Savannah Hwy. after cutting through a rear vinyl window between 11 p.m. Sept. 28 - 11:45 a.m. Sept. 29, according to one report. A purse, a wallet, several debit/credit cards and a tablet PC were stolen from a car at 1483 Tobias Gadsden Blvd. around 9:20 p.m. Sept. 29 after someone smashed one of the car windows, according to another report. A handgun was stolen from another unlocked vehicle at 226 Wappoo Road between 6 p.m. Sept. 28 - 7:30 a.m. Sept. 29, according to another report.

A single break-in was reported on Sept. 30, at 1479 Tobias Gadsden Blvd., in which a window was broken, but nothing was stolen, according to a report. It occurred sometime between 6 p.m. Sept. 28 - 4:15 p.m. Sept. 30.

Another three cars were broken into at the same location on Oct. 1, according to a report. All three were parked at 19 Farmfield Ave. between 7:30 - 10:30 p.m., and windows were smashed on all three cars. A purse, a wallet and several debit/credit cars were taken from two of the vehicles, nothing was removed from the third.