GREENFIELD — Police are calling them “crimes of opportunity.”
A group of four people, believed to be in their late teens, have broken into 17 cars, and they’ve even stolen two other vehicles, whose owners had left the keys in them.
All the break-ins have happened in the past week, and they had one major thing in common: Each vehicle was unlocked.
Officials from the Greenfield Police Department issued an alert warning people to keep their car doors locked and to make sure they don’t leave anything of value in their vehicles.
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Kolby Hunt knows all too well about having a vehicle broken into. When his family first moved to the area several years ago, someone broke into his truck. Then, during the weekend, someone did the same thing to his father’s truck that was sitting in his driveway. Hunt lives in the Whitcomb Meadows subdivision on the south side of Greenfield, where a number of the break-ins were reported.
“They didn’t get much, just some loose change, but, yeah, they broke in,” Hunt said.
The family wasn’t the only ones hit on their block. Hunt pointed out two other cars nearby that were also targets of the thieves.
One of Hunt’s neighbors saw a group of teens with a car, standing outside of it, acting as if something was wrong with it, but as soon as the neighbor started to approach them, they jumped in the vehicle and took off, Hunt said.
Capt. Brian Hartman from the Greenfield Police Department said vehicles in Chapman Estates, Whitcomb Meadows, Chapman Overlook, Bowman Acres subdivisions were targeted. So were vehicles in the 200 blocks of West Fourth and West Fifth streets. The subdivisions are on the south side of Greenfield.
None of the vehicles had broken windows or doors. The thieves simply opened the unlocked doors and helped themselves, police said. So far, they have taken a check book, cash, loose change and cell phone car chargers, and most of the vehicles have been rummaged through.
Police say there are things people can do to combat the problem.
“If you have your car doors locked, your car has about a 99.9 percent chance in Greenfield of not getting broken into,” Hartman said.
If people are insistent on leaving things in their cars, the items should be out of view, under a seat or in a glove compartment that can be locked, officials said.
Police believe the crimes are happening in the early morning hours, from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. They think the thieves are randomly approaching cars, and if the doors are unlocked, they enter. If not, they move on.
“The opportunity is the door is unlocked, they now have the opportunity to get in and take whatever they want,” Hartman said.
The thieves work quickly. They look in glove boxes and console compartments, take what they want and bolt, leaving vehicle owners to find the problem in the morning.
In an effort to help catch the group, police are asking anyone living in the targeted neighborhoods who might have security footage to contact police.
“We’d like to see if anyone has caught anyone walking in the middle of the night,” Hartman said.
Anyone who sees supicious activity between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. are encouraged to contact 911 right away. Anyone with video they’d care to share with police should call 317-325-1280.
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According to the Greenfield Police Department, these streets were targeted by thieves during the weekend:
Longfellow Lane, 300 block
Bowman Drive, 1600 block
Pippen Court, 1700 block
Hickory Lane, 1700 block
Shepherd Court, 100 block
Keller Drive, 300 block
Area near Ninth and Broadway streets, across from Greenfield-Central High School
West Fourth Street, 200 block
West Fifth Street, 200 block
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Police are asking anyone in the targeted areas whose security systems might have recorded suspicious nighttime activity to contact them. Detectives would like to view the video for clues to the suspects.
Anyone with video they’d care to share with police should call 317-325-1280.
Anyone who spots suspicious activity is encouraged to call 911, police say.
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