Police seek help to stop auto burglaries
The Vallejo Police Department has a message for those looking to commit auto burglaries this holiday season.
“Thieves beware…you should be looking over your shoulder when you commit crime. VPD may already be there waiting for you.”
The department is asking the public to stay vigilant as police begin increasing patrols to prevent auto burglaries and thefts during the holidays.
Police warned the public not to leave electronic devices inside cars as thieves are utilizing their phones to look for devices emitting a Bluetooth signal, according to a VPD news release. In addition, the public is asked to manually lock their doors, after a thief was found with a radio frequency jammer to jam radio frequency signals from key fobs to car alarms. The device had a range the size of a large parking lot.
“Motor-vehicle theft has increased over the last few years and has become a quality of life concern for our citizens,” police said in the same release. “During the past three years, we have utilized crime analytics and formed partnerships designed to enhance our crime fighting ability via the use of data.”
Police said the partnerships have combined traditional methods of policing — random patrol, rapid response, and reactive investigations with targeting, testing, and tracking crime with data analysis at specific hot spots.
“Data helps police zero in on where crime happens and who is committing it,” police added. “Information provided by crime analysts is invaluable as research suggests that as much as 50 to 60 percent of all crime in any jurisdiction occurs at just three to five percent of locations.”
They said the use of data, coupled with the use of the department’s Crime Reduction Team to an area will result in a more precise and specific approach to enforcement.
“Although auto burglaries continue to occur in Gateway Plaza, VPD’s work has shown that making meaningful crime suppression interventions while building community awareness can have a measurable impact in deterring burglaries, exemplified in a 40 percent drop in auto burglaries from 2016-2017, they added. “VPD is now eager to broaden the scope of its work by trying other interventions in 2019 — rooted in deterrence and prevention.”