Cops in the 109th Precinct are doing everything they can to reduce a rash of break-ins to late model cars by thieves intent on stealing the airbags – but they admit they need help.
No less than five cars had their windows smashed, airbags stolen and were otherwise damaged the first week of April – four on the first Monday night alone, police say.
“They’re finding secluded locations and it looks like they hit multiple vehicles in close proximity to each other,” said Police Officer Anthony LoVerme, a crime prevention specialist at the 109th.
On Saturday, April 4, at 8 a.m., a car owner parked opposite 17-36 166th Street found his 2009 Nissan Altima had been robbed of its airbag overnight. Less than an hour later, a neighbor parked behind the address called in about his 2008 Honda CRV – the airbag was gone.
Tuesday, April 7 was a busy day. The report of an airbag theft from a 2007 Honda parked behind 23-55 Bell Boulevard came in at 6:30 a.m.
Opposite15-80 Waters Edge Drive, airbags were reported stolen from a 2008 Lexus and 2008 Honda parked within feet of each other, before 10 a.m.
An airbag-less 2009 Lexus, parked at Waters Edge Drive and 24th Avenue was reported just after noon.
The modus operandi is always the same. Thieves break the rear passenger window – “they don’t want to sit on the broken glass,” LoVerme sniffed – and proceed to remove the air bag. While they’re at it, they will take any valuables “just lying there,” he added.
Police say that car owners and their friends can deter thieves by activating their security devices; locking their doors; not leaving valuables in the car; parking their cars in well-lit areas, or, better yet, in a garage and, most of all, calling 9-1-1 if they see something suspicious.
There really isn’t much else local cops can do, LoVerme laments. As the price of airbags has dropped to the $500-$700 range, the actual theft is a “petit larceny” and a misdemeanor. “The breaking of the window and subsequent damage are separate acts of criminal mischief, another misdemeanor,” he explained.
State Senator Toby Stavisky, who lives not far from the thefts, disagrees.
“It’s a single event and should be treated as a single crime; a non-violent felony like ‘breaking and entering’ that would have a prison sentence,” she said.
None of this sits well with State Senator Frank Padavan, whose district virtually surrounds this recent airbag-theft hot spot.
“It’s ridiculous,” he complained. “If you steal a $100 car – an old jalopy that barely runs – it’s a felony and you can go to prison for four years. But if you can steal a $500 airbag and do another $500 in damage, the most you can get is one year in jail.”
“It’s time to increase the penalty for breaking into a car for any reason,” Padavan said, listing several related anti-crime bills he has sponsored over the years. “They keep dying in the Assembly,” he said.
