Unlocked vehicles lead to theft reports

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Perryville police are still investigating a number of thefts in the city, most involving vehicles left unlocked by their owners. According to recent reports, since Nov. 30, the Perryville Police Department has responded to more than 15 reports for thefts from vehicles, with most of them being from unlocked vehicles. Perryville Police spokesman Cpl. Jeri Cain said the thefts were reported in multiple locations around the city, making it difficult to determine a pattern beyond the unlocked vehicles. “We have no suspects,” Cain said. “One night it was one side of town. The next night, it was another side of town. It kind of hopped all over. There is no specific area in town where we can say, ‘Hey, you live by the park? Lock your stuff up.’ “Everybody needs to lock their stuff up.” After reviewing the reports, Cain shared that all but one of the vehicles involved were left unlocked, making it easy for thieves to gain access to items left inside. “That one that was locked, they weren’t sure if they had locked it or not,” Cain said, “and I’m so I’m going to guess that it was unlocked. There was no damage done to the door mechanism.” Among the items reported stolen, Cain said, were “change, purses, wallets, anything of value that was left in the vehicle.” She offered simple tip to deter thieves. “We encourage everyone to remove the valuables from their vehicles and lock the vehicles up so there is not an opportunity for someone to steal something,” Cain said. “If it can be seen, that that creates motive to break into a vehicle.” Cain called the thieves “very bold and brazen.” “I know they were under several carports and went into at least one garage where the door was left up and they went into the garage and went through the vehicles,” Cain said. For now at least, the thefts seem to be confined to the city limits. Perry County Sheriff Gary Schaaf said Tuesday that his department had not received many reports of a similar nature, but echoed Cain’s advice about removing valuables from vehicles, including purses, bags, backpacks and items and locking the doors on the vehicle. “If somebody wants in there bad enough, they’ll break a window,” Schaaf said, “But they’re less likely to do that if they can’t see anything worth stealing.”