LOUISVILLE, Ky. — LMPD’s Fifth division says they’ve had 21 car break-ins in February at local churches in the neighborhood, and 15 of those happened last week. Detective Daniel English, says thieves aren't waiting anymore for the sun and nice weather to come back.
“As the weather gets nice were starting to see an uptick in our thefts,” English said.
Ten of those 21 break-ins were smash and grabs and five of them had unlocked doors. Detective English is leading the investigation on these break-ins, and he says, the thieves aren't targeting specific churches.
“They (thieves) tend to be concentrated in the parks they tend to be concentrated in church parking lots grocery store parking lots, really anywhere that's got a large concentration of people,” English expressed.
WHAS11 reached out to 35 churches across Louisville and seven told WHAS 11’s Paulina Bucka that they've had a break-in, in the past two weeks, some reported multiple break-ins at their parish.
“They’ll come up to the car, they’ll look in the window it only takes them a half a second to smash that window grab it and get out of there,” English stated.
Click on Crime Mapping to find out what types of crimes are in your area.
While safety is the main concern Detective English says, we can all be a little more diligent before leaving the car.
“As it gets nicer out there's a lot of activity there are people walking their dogs, people running or jogging so most people know if you're going for a jog you won’t bring your belongings with you the bad guys know those items will be in the car, safest bet is to place it all in the trunk,” English said.
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