Police chief: Locking doors would curb car thefts
The simplest act could forestall the biggest increase in crime New Canaan is experiencing in 2020.
“If residents would simply lock their cars,” Chief Leon Krolikowski said during a Police Commission Zoom meeting Wednesday, repeating a refrain he continues to sound to the public.
There have been 32 instances of items being stolen out of a vehicle this year, compared to 11 as of this time last year.
There have also been 20 vehicles stolen in 2020 — half of them in July and August alone, and eight of those in August. Eight were stolen in the entirety of the year 2019.
“Our residents aren’t full absorbing the message of locking their cars,” Krolikowski said.
Residents are, however, saying something when they see somthing.
Commissioner James McLauglin pointed out an increase of some 25 percent in reports for suspicous people or vehicles, with 257 so far this year compared to 192 at this time last year.
“I suspect a portion of our residents are seeing suspicious vehicles and calling us, and that’s a result of stolen vehicles,” Krolikowski said. “Sadly, there’s another portion of residents not paying attention.”
He singled out a case in which three people from
Stamford were arrested when officers investigated a report of people entering vehicles in the middle of the night.
“We want residents to report suspicious activity,” Krolikowski said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected statistics in several categories.
Calls for psychiatric problems have increased from 21 in all of 2019 to 36 this year, with seven in August after five during July.
“I think a lot of that is COVID-19,” Krolikowski said.
Family disputes, however, are down from a total of 34 at the end of last August to 27 by Aug. 31 of 2020.
Medical assists are down, from 902 at this time last year to 831.
The lockdown is also showing a difference in traffic statistics.
McLaughlin pointed out a drop in motor vehicle violations from 2,388 through August of 2019 to 1,687 this year.
“You had said that’s due to a reduction in people driving,” McLaughlin said. “Is that starting to trend up? Did it sharply reduce and are we returning to normal, or are we enforcing less?”
“Fewer people are driving, and officers are responding to more critical incidents,” Krolikowski replied. “You’re going to see that trend upwards. We’re starting to target locations we get complaints on or have accidents at.”
Last year there were 232 violations reported in August and 231 in July. This year there were 112 in August and 189 in July.
“It don’t think it’s quite normal yet,” Krolikowski said, “but it’s more normal.”