Minneapolis police are investigating a new rash of car break-ins across the city, and Cheryl Kramer isn’t happy about it.
“There’s a lot of confusion on the streets,” she says. “People don’t know what to do with themselves.”
Investigators say between Oct. 9 and this past Monday, they received 124 reports of vehicle vandalism — windows shattered and wallets and other personal items taken.
Kramer says during that period, she left her van unlocked outside her south Minneapolis home.
She found thieves had stolen three pairs of shoes and a battery charger, which was not the first time, she says.
“I have had stuff stolen,” Kramer explains. “I have had even in my garage, things taken out of my garage in my car. That feels violating. You feel vulnerable.”
Most of the vandalism occurred in south Minneapolis, police say.
Some of those crimes happened in clusters.
Police records show on Monday alone, 30 cars were broken into in the area of East 35th Street and 24th Avenue South.
A dozen cars were vandalized near West 25th Street and Girard Avenue South. Another 10 were hit along the 900 block of 27th Avenue South.
“I don’t know why they would be doing that,” notes Barbara Pollard, visiting a friend from her Nokomis home. “Breaking into cars, what would you get? Not much from a car. People don’t leave much in their car.”
She says she’s seen the problem in her neighborhood, too.
“Every once in a while, I ride down the street and see the windows broken out,” Pollard declares. “I park in the garage, so I don’t have to worry about it.”
Authorities say this new series of break-ins follows a two-month lull in these crimes.
Last August, police investigated 500 smash-and-grabs citywide.
RELATED: ‘It’s spiked very dramatically’: Over 500 car break-ins across Minneapolis since July, 3 juveniles arrested
Investigators later arrested three juveniles, aged 15, 16, and 17 years old.
It was hoped the start of school would quiet things down, but that doesn’t appear to have happened.
“I would say it’s just more of frustration we’re feeling, just like everyone else out in the community,” says MPD Commander Monica Hanson. “We don’t want our residents to have to live with this. This is not sustainable.”
Hanson says the department has assigned 20 community service officers in the areas where there have been clusters of break-ins.
MPD is also encouraging residents to register their security cameras with the city. By doing so, investigators can use a map to find where cameras are located, which could lead to accessing video of a crime.
Police are also ramping up their response protocols in connection with car break-ins.
“Anytime we identify a crime spree, if three or more crimes happen in a short period of time, in a certain area, we deploy all our available resources; squads from other precincts to saturate the area and make a visible presence,” Hanson explains.
The idea behind the rapid response is to quickly secure an area, stop the spree from continuing and possibly apprehend suspects.
Hanson says you should always lock your car and take the keys, avoid leaving anything in plain sight inside and try to park in a well-lit area.
Hanson also advises that if you see anything suspicious, call 911.
She says investigators are also trying to learn if any of the current cases are linked and if there’s a connection to the break-ins in August.
“That’s what we’ve had our analysts, our investigators looking into right now,” Hanson explains. “I would say it’s more damage to the vehicles versus… they damage a vehicle and then move on to the next.”
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