GONE IN 6 MINUTES
Hamilton family loses two cars to theft from driveway, township sees 47% uptick in car thefts
HAMILTON » Dina Ghanem had just dropped off her daughter at the bus stop around the corner.
When the Hamilton resident arrived back home at her residence on the first block of Fairlawn Avenue on Dec. 1, she left her car running and started her husband’s vehicle on that chilly morning.
While inside for what she estimates was a maximum of six minutes, Ghanem grabbed her coffee and got her other daughter ready.
When she opened the door, both vehicles were gone.
“I didn’t notice anybody hanging around waiting,” Ghanem said of the thieves. “I don’t know where they came from.”
As a lifelong Hamilton resident, Ghanem said she was shocked that both of her vehicles — a black 2011 Toyota Highlander (NJ license plate number NUZ15U) and a silver 2009 BMW 528 (NJ license plate number YUX-21T) — were stolen. What alarmed Ghanem even more was that police did not inform residents that there was an uptick in car thefts the past several months.
“There’s so many other things going on that we don’t know about,” the resident said. “We don’t hear it from the township or the police department.”
Hamilton officials have long celebrated the township as a safe community and suburban utopia, even claiming in 2015 to have its lowest overall crime rate since 1977.
But there have been past concerns about what the township reports and fails to report to residents.
“It’s really not safe,” Ghanem said. “They have to be honest and let the residents know what’s going on so that we can also be vigilant and keep an eye out for each other.”
Car Thefts Up 47%
According to a review of crime blotter on the township’s website, there is a troubling trend of automobile thefts. Every month since September, there has been 20 or more vehicle thefts reported to police. In comparison, the highest for any given month in 2016 was 15.
This past year, Hamilton also saw an increase of car thefts of roughly 47 percent, a jump from 128 stolen vehicles in 2016 to 188 in 2017, the blotter indicates.
In a phone interview on Friday, Hamilton Detective Lt. Michael Kelvy said he “wouldn’t say there is a cartheft problem” in the township. Kelvy said he was just running numbers that show “the car thefts are very similar overall” from 2016 to 2017.
However, he could not provide those numbers.
Only after the township experienced 26 car thefts in September, 22 in October and 20 each in November and December, did the police put out a public service announcement on Jan. 3, 2018. The message did not reference the recent rash of car thefts, but offered crime prevention tips, such as not keeping valuables inside a car in plain view, never leaving a running vehicle unattended and always locking a vehicle.
“I would say what the problem is that we try to educate our residents that we live in a society today where people prey on those who they could take advantage of,” Kelvy said. “The fact you start your car in the morning and leave it unattended — even it’s only for 30 seconds — unfortunately, if there is somebody in the neighborhood and they want the car, they’re going to take it.”
Asked why Hamilton was not being proactive by releasing warnings over the past year on days where three or four cars were stolen, Kelvy responded, “It’s usually not one day we all of the sudden have five, six, 10 cars stolen. If that did happen, that would bring a lot to our attention as well.”
“We try to see if there is a pattern when we get a car stolen,” Kelvy said, referring to if the thefts occurred in same neighborhood, time of day, or week. “We look at different patterns to see maybe if we could then put undercover units out there to try to catch somebody who’s going to steal a car. It’s very difficult to try to be proactive on something like that when you try to establish a pattern.”
‘No Sense of Urgency’
Hamilton police responded to Ghanem’s residence within 10 minutes after the two vehicles were stolen. The cars have yet to be recovered.
Also in Ghanem’s vehicle was her purse.
The thieves used one of Ghanem’s credit cards that she had forgotten was in her purse and the criminals went on a splurge before she could cancel it.
She said more than $300 was spent at Old Cedar Liquor store on South Olden Avenue in Hamilton, a purchase of $46 was made at the Home Depot on North Olden Avenue in Ewing, and three gas station purchases (presumably to fill up her two stolen vehicles and the vehicle they used to commit the crime) were placed at a Lukoil gas station on Greenwood Avenue in Trenton.
There was also an attempt to make a $600 purchase at the Foot Locker at Oxford Valley Mall that was blocked by the credit card company for being suspicious.
Ghanem’s case was as-
signed to a detective. She said she asked him if he was following up to see if any of the places had cameras and he assured her he would.
A week later, Ghanem said she was told the same thing by the officer, but she had suspicions he was not following through on his word.
She called Foot Locker and a manager told her they had cameras and he would be able to provide footage if a request was made by police.
Ghanem left a message with the detective. A week later, the detective said he hadn’t followed up on the possible leads, the frustrated resident said.
“All I got was excuses: ‘Just because somebody used your credit card doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the ones that stole your vehicle,’” Ghanem said last week. “I feel like it’s excuse after excuse just to not follow up on anything. There’s no sense of urgency. There’s no excuse for not following up on camera footage when you know it’s available.”
On Wednesday, Ghanem received another tip that she forwarded police. Her Toyota Highlander received an E-Z Pass violation crossing the Trenton-Morrisville Bridge on Dec. 1. Police informed her they would look into it and Kelvy also reiterated that fact.
Kelvy said he feels Ghanem’s frustration and insists the department is not “ignoring” her.
“I know she’s frustrated but we’re also frustrated too that we can’t get her cars back for her,” the lieutenant said. “We’re trying to do everything we can to recover her cars. I don’t know what else we can do.”
Kelvy said police are usually successful at recovering stolen vehicles. Sometimes they are involved in an accident or another police department will get a hit on the vehicle that it’s stolen since hot cars are entered into the National Crime Information Center system.
“I’ve got to believe this is an unusual circumstance that we have not been able to recover the cars because it’s not like they just disappear,” Kelvy said. “They usually reappear and it’s usually quick.”
Police have no reason to believe there’s a ring operating in the township and stolen vehicles are being shipped overseas, Kelvy said.
“We don’t have any information saying that there’s a group of people out there,” Kelvy said, indicating cars were stolen by a group of juveniles who were caught last summer. “It’s an opportunity. When these people need a car and it’s going to be 10 degrees in the morning, they know people are going to start their cars and let them warm up. We didn’t get one this (Friday) morning because it was 60 degrees out so people weren’t warming up their cars.”
A lot of times, Kelvy said, residents are too embarrassed to admit that they left their keys in an unlocked vehicle or left the car running unattended.
“But we also have no evidence that the cars were forcibly taken, meaning that somebody broke the window and hot-wired it,” he said. “I also like to think our residents in Hamilton feel very secure that they can do that.”
‘Safe, Clean & Beautiful’
Hamilton’s unofficial slogan for years has been “Safe, Clean & Beautiful.”
This preconceived notion has left residents feeling safe, possibly too safe.
“I’m not saying that it’s not (safe) now because you could look at crime statistics and violent crimes are down,” Kelvy said. “But our other crimes — Hamilton has always been a burglary community because of our homes.”
Kelvy said the city tries to keep the crime rate “where it’s at, especially bordering a city like Trenton, where there’s issues.”
“We have our issues too,” he acknowledged. “I like to think that people feel very comfortable, very safe in our community so they feel they will not become a victim. But when they do become a victim, it’s traumatic and I get that.”
Ghanem, however, believes the safe community motto creates a false sense of security. In addition to the stolen vehicles, Ghanem said numerous packages are being stolen from porches and cars, and there have been a rash of smash and grabs at Planet Fitness on Whitehouse Mercerville Road.
Police blotter information verifies these crimes are occurring at a significant rate. Police also confirmed these unlawful acts are happening.
In December, a Trenton resident attempted to carjack a couple’s vehicle on the 2300 block of South Broad Street in Hamilton.
Carrying a sawed-off shotgun, Cedrick Hodges shot at the couple when the husband tried to intervene, but he did not strike them. He ended up hitting and wounding two men after he let off another round.
Hodges was arrested a short time later by police near the scene.
Ghanem said she has taken to Facebook to inform residents what is transpiring because she feels the police are not properly informing residents. She has received responses from other residents that their vehicles have also been stolen.
“I’ve lived here all my life,” the Steinert graduate said, adding she has lived on Fairlawn Avenue for the past 13 years, which is across the street from the AMC movie theater. “All my life, nothing like this has ever happened to me or my family and that was my mindset that ‘Stuff like that doesn’t happen in Hamilton.’ I just don’t want people to be as naïve as I was. Now, I’m constantly looking out my window to make sure the car’s in the driveway. It really messed with me.”