CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Across the city of Chesapeake, more criminals are heading out at night to try their luck, according to police.
The Chesapeake Police Department said they're seeing an unusual spike in car larcenies, with most victims reportedly leaving their cars unlocked.
“Right now, between January and July, we are at about 558 incidents with larcenies from vehicles which is unusually high for us,” said Chesapeake Police Department Lt. Michael Sparrow. “We want to be a little more proactive in bringing it down.”
Sparrow said that number is 26% higher than the same time frame last year.
"For us, the more disturbing thing is word is getting out amongst offenders throughout our area because we are seeing offenders coming as far as the peninsula, across the water into our southern neighborhoods and we are seeing larcenies there too,” Sparrow said.
He said a majority of the larcenies happen overnight.
“We see generally is a vehicle will come into the area, a group of two to four people and they will literally just walk down the neighborhood and check car doors and if they are unlocked, they will go in there and get whatever is in there of value.”
That’s exactly what Scott Moak said happened in his neighborhood in Great Bridge last month. His home surveillance camera caught video of people in his driveway, around 2 a.m.
“Individuals checking out my son’s car and going to the neighbor’s house,” Moak said. “Luckily for us, we keep everything locked or in the garage.”
Sparrow said, for the most part, if cars are locked, the criminals move on. He also recommends having an outside camera.
“Lighting is always good obviously, criminals hate light because it illuminates what they are doing,” Sparrow said.
Unfortunately, Moak said some of his neighbors' cars did get hit last month.
“It oddly seemed to be that the cars that were broken into were also damaged with slashed tires, or keyed into the paint,” Moak said.
Sparrow said the police department is devoting resources to bringing larcenies down, citywide.
“We are going to have extra patrols, extra enforcement, some of the things we are going to be doing aren’t going to be visible,” Sparrow said.
The police department said if you notice something unusual in your neighborhood or a shopping center, call them. They urge people not to engage with the suspects.