Perrysburg auto thefts increase

Spike results from perfect mix of nice weather, no school, and unlocked cars

7/24/2013

There has been a spike in thefts from automobiles in the Perrysburg area in the past few weeks, said Perrysburg Sgt. Pat McGuire.

He said with school out for the summer, and the nice weather the past few weeks, it means teenagers are out walking around more at night and finding unlocked cars. Residential areas are taking the biggest hit.

"We definitely see a spike in this during summer," Sergeant McGuire said. "Most of the time it is unlocked vehicles."

Making sure valuables and expensive items are not left in the cars and keeping them locked will prevent the thefts, Mr. McGuire said. 

This weekend, there were three different reports of thefts out of vehicles on East Sixth Street alone. . One car was opened and rifled through with nothing missing, another had two $50 Garmin GPS units stolen and $2 in change, and another had about $120 in valuables stolen, including debit cards. 

Sergeant McGuire said usually they catch the thieves when they use the cards. He also said for neighborhoods that have a big spike in thefts from cars they will have bicycle patrol go through because they aren't as noticeable for groups of "kids"

"The big thing is getting anything valuable out of your car and locking the vehicle," he said. "If they see a laptop on the front seat they might break a window. If they don't see anything they are not going to pop a window and risk getting caught. Give them no reason to enter your vehicle."

Contact Matt Thompson at: mthompson@theblade.com, 419-356-8786, or on Twitter at @mthompson25.