1 POLICE: LOCK YOUR VEHICLES OVERNIGHT

Police are urging residents to lock their vehicles at night as law enforcement face continuing incidents of vehicle thefts and larcenies from cars throughout the city.

“This is not just a Shelton issue,” police Lt. Robert Kozlowsky said.

Kozlowsky said in most, if not all, of these cases, the vehicle was left unlocked.

“They are not breaking in. … They are going house to house, searching for unlocked vehicles and taking anything of value inside,” Kozlowsky said. “Lock your cars and hide your valuables. In most cases, they are walking up to cars, checking to see if unlocked. If it’s locked, in most cases they move on.”

So far in 2020, the Shelton police crime stats listed on the department’s website have 27 incidents of motor vehicle theft and 35 reports of theft from a motor vehicle. These numbers are through the end of June.

By comparison, Shelton police fielded 22 reports of motor vehicle theft for all of 2019, with 62 reports of theft from a motor vehicle.

In neighboring Trumbull, police are asking residents to use their home security cameras to help combat the dramatic increase in vehicle thefts and larcenies from cars that are occurring throughout the town.

Trumbull police urge its residents to use the features that are readily available on their residential camera systems to sound an audible alarm when there is latenight motion detected in their driveways.

The thefts, according to Trumbull police, are occurring mostly during the latenight hours, generally between midnight and 5 a.m.

Nineteen vehicles have been stolen from driveways since the first of this year, and dozens of cars have had personal property stolen from inside many others, Trumbull police said.