Keep Your Cars Secure
I attended a community meeting last week and was told that cars in part of our community had items stolen from them. I learned that some of the cars were parked in the street, while others were parked in people’s driveways.
But there was something in common with all of the cars that had items removed by criminals: the doors of the cars were left unlocked.
People feel that we live in a safe community, and that is true. But that does not mean that you can leave the doors of your cars unlocked. There are criminals who walk the streets of our neighborhood and try to open the car doors at random.
Capt. Thomas Conforti, 112th Precinct commanding officer, informed me that his officers recently made two arrests of individuals breaking into cars. The captain stated that the thieves find this area attractive because, in the words of one of the criminals, “people leave valuable items in their cars and also leave the car doors unlocked.”
Those were the words spoken by a thief arrested after stealing a GPS from a vehicle parked on Austin Street in Forest Hills.
As far as people leaving the keys in the car and the engine running to “just go into a store,” please remember that this is illegal. It can also result in your car being stolen. A few years ago, someone was killed by a vehicle stolen while idling on the street.
Please do not leave your car running unattended at any time.
Next meeting
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown will be the guest speaker at the 112th Precinct Community Council’s next meeting, which will take place on Thursday, Apr. 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the stationhouse located at Austin Street and Yellowstone Boulevard.
The meeting was moved due to the holidays.
Editor’s note: Heidi Harrison Chain is president of the 112th Precinct Community Council.
