By Joyce LeeThe Daily Northwestern
Twenty-eight vehicle break-ins have occurred so far in April as a result of warmer weather, said Cmdr. Jim Elliot of the Evanston Police Department.
The vehicles that have been broken into range widely in make and model, Elliot said, and although most of the incidents are occurring in west Evanston, there is no concentrated area of crime.
“At this time, the majority of them are all over town,” Elliot said. “We’ve got the south part of town, downtown Evanston and the west.”
One trend that stands out, Elliot said, is that a large number of the vehicles being broken into are SUVs. One 35-year-old man parked his 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee on the 2200 block of Oakton Street at noon on April 4. When he returned an hour later, the man noticed the rear driver’s side window had been shattered, and a backpack had been taken from the vehicle, Elliot said. The driver claimed a loss of an $1,800 Hewlett-Packard laptop computer, a $3,000 ring and a $3,000 bracelet.
Another SUV was broken into sometime overnight between March 31 and April 1 at 815 Dobson Street. The 39-year-old male resident reported that unknown subjects peeled the rubber off the front driver’s side window to gain entry into his 1998 Ford Expedition. A valet key to a 2002 Jaguar was taken from inside the vehicle, and the Jaguar, parked at the same residence, was then stolen, Elliot said.
“It seems that the majority of vehicle robberies occurring in April are happening to SUVs,” Elliot said. “Mostly Jeeps and Mercury Mountaineers.”
Items commonly taken from vehicles include car stereos, purses, wallets and electronic devices. Yet there have been cases where nothing was found missing by the vehicle’s owner, Elliott said.
“We advise that people protect their property by making sure their vehicles are locked,” Elliot said. “Try not to keep any personal property or valuables in view from the outside because that becomes a crime of opportunity.”
Police are currently processing evidence in their crime lab and have placed extra overnight patrols in certain areas of Evanston, Elliot said.
“With the warm weather coming up, we tend to get a little more increase of vehicle burglaries,” Elliot said. “Basically, offenders are going out and they feel safer at night when people are sleeping.”
Ald. Anjana Hansen (9th), who represents part of south Evanston, said she is working with the police to arrange a briefing for the City Council on the recent increase in crime.
“It’s really a plague on the city,” Hansen said.
Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd), whose westside ward also suffered several car break-ins this month, said more action was necessary.
“Whatever we’re doing is evidently not preventing that,” Jean-Baptiste said. “We need more vigilance. It can’t be our citizens staying up all night watching their cars.”
The Daily’s Megan Crepeau and Ketul Patel contributed to this report.
Reach Joyce Lee at [email protected].
