Car burglaries spike in Orlando tourist corridor
Awoman visiting Central Florida for her daughter’s soccer tournament stopped at Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets and found an unpleasant surprise when she returned to her parked car: Thieves had made off with her luggage, including $200worth of team uniforms.
AUtah family having dinner out at FishBones on Sand Lake Road discovered their SUVwindowbroken. Someone had stolen a backpack containing several items, including a wedding ring and $150worth ofHarry Potter wands.
Another family, visiting fromBrazil, had tickets to anNBA game stolen when their van windowwas smashed while they visited Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf.
All these incidents happened last month in Orange County’s tourist corridor, where car break-ins soared165 percent last year compared with 2015. Through February of this year, records showtheywere still on the upswing.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office records showdeputies last year responded to 1,128 auto burglaries in Sector 5, a 23-square-mile area that includes SeaWorld, the Orange County Convention Center, and numerous hotels and motels where tourists visiting Disney and Universal stay. The previous year, the area had 426 vehicle break-ins.
Countywide, auto burglaries increased 32 percent in 2016.
Records showtourism sector break-ins made up15 percent of the 7,290 car burglaries the sheriff’s office responded to last year.
Sector 5 does not cover Orlando’s two biggest theme-park resorts. Records showUniversal Orlando’s car break-ins dropped last year while therewas an increase in zones covering the Disney area.
Tourists can be particularly susceptible, said JeannieHahm, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College ofHospitalityManagement.
“You’re a target because you’re carrying a lot of cash,” she said. “There are many distractions. They’re here to have fun. Maybe they’re not locking their doors properly or just leaving stuff in there in clear view.”
Crime in tourist areas can hurt the destination’s image, said Duncan Dickson, an associate professor at Rosen.
“People are a little bit leery about going someplace where their car’s going to be broken into,” he said. “My guess is that the resorts and places where that is occurring are going to have to up their security, nighttime security teams, to patrol the parking [lots].”
Deputies areworking overtime and more of them are being hired for off-dutywork, Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Angelo Nieves said. What’s going on is part of a nationwide trend of increased car burglaries, he said.
Auto break-ins make up 67 percent of the 2,311major crimes reported throughout the tourist district in the past two years. Representatives of I-Drive business groups said deputies have made arrests in the past few months of suspects who had targeted multiple cars.
LuAnn Brooks, executive director of the I-Drive Business Improvement District, said the sheriff’s office has “a lot of decoy cars out here in certain specific areaswe knowmight be spiking.”
The I-Drive district has a special assessment that generates $1 million a year to pay for 10 deputies dedicated solely to the zones covering the tourism corridor, she said. They supplement regular lawenforcement.
“Businesses have been asked to stay vigilant in helping to prevent crime in parking lots through good lighting and informing patrons to keep items in cars out of view, making it less tempting for theft,” Maria Triscari, president of the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce, said in an email.
A sampling of 15 reports fromthe end of February showed burglaries taking place at several restaurants and a couple of hotels. Often, the reports said therewas no video available fromsurveillance cameras.
Burglaries often come in spurts. For instance, therewere 32 in a two-day stretch in the area between 4000 and 4198 Central Florida Parkway— which includes high-end hotels. Therewere 67 burglaries in that section overall last year.
“Whatwe’re seeing is, these groups coming in and hitting certain hotels or certain areas and hitting 10, 12, 15 or 20 vehicles at a time,” Nieves said.
Other hard-hit areas include I-Drive from near Carrier Drive to near Sand Lake Road, and Canada Avenue, north of Sand Lake Road.
Universal Orlando falls just inside city limits. Police records showthe number of vehicle burglary cases fell last year for addresses covering the overall resort and its four hotels that were open the past two years. Records show 34 cases last year. In 2015, therewere 41.
Two separate sheriff’s zones, 60 and 61, are almost entirely made up ofWalt DisneyWorld property.
In zones 60 and 61, therewere 111burglaries in 2016. That’s up from71 in 2015.
spedicini@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5240; Twitter @SandraPedicini