Vehicle Burglaries on the Rise

Source: Santa Barbara Police Department

The Santa Barbara Police Department has recently received numerous reports about vehicle burglaries occurring in the city. These incidents have been occurring mainly in recreational areas, the municipal golf course, city parks, beach front and other parking lots/areas throughout the City of Santa Barbara.

It is believed a group of criminals from outside the Santa Barbara area are specifically targeting vehicles that have valuables inside the vehicle. Information has also been received that this network of criminals is highly sophisticated; they utilize “look-outs” observing future victim’s actions, and wait for the victim to leave their vehicle prior to breaking in.

Many victims have reported placing valuables inside the trunk of their vehicle, believing this is a secure location for purses and wallets. These criminals have burglary tools that allows them to gain access discreetly and quickly to the vehicle’s trunk, then remove only the victim’s credit/debit cards, leaving the wallet or purse behind. The victims are initially unaware the crime has occurred, even after returning to their vehicle and retrieving their property that they believed was secured.

The Police Department is recommending to all community members not to leave any valuables inside a vehicle. Take them with you!

Officers and Detectives are actively working on apprehending these criminals. If anyone observes suspicious activity at the above-mentioned locations, call 9-1-1 immediately or SBPD Dispatch 805-882-8900.

SBPDPIO

Written by SBPDPIO

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  1. How many times do people need to be told not to leave valuables in parked cars? Pretty simple, but some just don’t seem to get the concept. Hard to be sympathetic for the victims, though that doesn’t change to imperative to bust the bad guys.

  2. San Francisco started that way by becoming the world capital of (unprosecuted) car burglaries.
    It then “graduated” to downtown department stores being ransacked by groups of masked , crowbar and hammer armed looters.
    S.B. will follow in those footsteps and nobody seemingly cares about it !

  3. @Bumblebee :
    They DO get the concept.
    The problem is : there is no longer any retribution for this social destructive behavior. And they know it because this “no prosecution” current policy is advertised as a great progress for humanity. So they just take full advantage of it and “help themselves” as much as they can.

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