After late-night partying with friends in October, Aaron Hoffman came home at around 2 a.m. and didn’t notice anything suspicious. The next morning, the Weinberg senior woke up to find the window of his front driver seat window completely shattered.
“There was glass everywhere,” Hoffman said, recalling the incident. “They took my CD player, a change cup with $2.50 and left all my CDs in the front seat. I called the police and they did a whole investigation, but they never found who did it.”
Incidents such as this are on the rise, according to the Evanston Police Department.
In the past two months, police have noticed “a significant increase in burglary to vehicle reports,” with such crimes more than doubling between February and April, EPD Cmdr. Tom Guenther said. Evanston residents reported 46 car burglaries in the month of April alone.
A high percentage of these cars were unlocked with personal items inside, making these crimes “extremely hard to prevent,” Guenther said. In April, 59 percent of reported car burglaries affected unsecured cars, a 23 percent increase from January.
“We almost have to be omnipresent in that situation because there’s no noise, and they just open the door and take those things,” Guenther said.
This surge in car burglaries is not related to the recession, Guenther said.
“It always goes up and down,” he said. “If you’re thinking that it might be societally related with people losing jobs, I don’t think that ever bears out.”
Most of the incidents occurred in the Third and Sixth wards, which Guenther said makes him believe select individuals are breaking into these cars and not a group of people. He added that he didn’t think it was a “trend.”
“You could have one guy who goes down the street and finds various cars unlocked,” Guenther said. “The statistics make it seem like there’s this crime wave, but if you analyze it, it’s not that in-depth.”
Northwestern University Police have observed “a few” car burglaries on campus, but most of them occurred at off-campus locations, UP Assistant Chief Dan McAleer said.
“It’s certainly something of concern to both departments,” McAleer said.
Commonly stolen items include GPS systems, iPods, computers, stereos and other personal and electronic items, Guenther said. He advises keeping valuable items in the trunk or the glove compartment instead of leaving them in plain sight.
Jake Simpson, a former Daily staffer, said he’s “kept all of his valuables out of (his) car” since he lost a $200 GPS system when his car was broken into in October.
“It’s not worth it to these guys to break into a car if they don’t know that there’s something valuable inside,” the Medill senior said. “But if they see an iPhone or a laptop, it’s very easy to smash a window and take something and run.”
McAleer reminded students and Evanston residents to contact police if they notice suspicious behavior, including activated car alarms.
“If you hear someone’s alarm going off, a lot of times it’s malfunctions, but it might be the real deal,” McAleer said. “If they’re not deactivating the alarm, it’s a good idea to call the police.”
Hoffman said more action from his neighbors would have been helpful.
“A lot of times when you live off campus, you’ll get calls from neighbors with noise complaints,” he said. “So to have a window shatter at 2 a.m. and have no one notice was really frustrating.”
To deter future car burglaries, EPD will try to show a more visible presence of squad cars and educate the public on protecting their vehicles, Guenther said.
But he added the most important thing is for residents to take common sense precautions to protect themselves.
“Don’t leave anything in your cars, even something as small as pocket change,” Guenther said. “If there’s something of value in the car and you leave it unlocked, the crime takes literally 30 seconds.”
Brian Rosenthal contributed reporting.
