Albany police urge residents to take steps to avoid being theft victims

ALBANY — After noticing a trend of car break-ins in the central part of the city, the Albany Police Department is issuing the same warning again: don’t leave guns, laptops, purses or money in vehicles.

With the weather warming, police also are warning commercial lawn services to secure equipment and trailers to prevent thefts.

“We’ve had a little spike over in the central area, the general area around where Monroe High School is,” Cpl. Dillard Glover said. “Not at the high school, but in that area we’ve had quite a few in a short period of time.”

On Tuesday officers were out in the area speaking to residents looking for information as well as notifying them about what’s going on and how to protect themselves.

“It’s to educate and be proactive, so maybe you won’t have more victims in the same area,” Glover said.

The officer said that entering auto cases are not limited to any one part of the city. From time to time they occur in spurts in a particular area.

Police also are recommending people take some precautions like purchasing car alarms and possibly consider car covers. Security lighting and cameras that can help police identify thieves are also considerations.

“Criminals prefer to work in the shadows and darkness,” he said. “The big thing is just keep all your valuables out of your car.

“If they don’t see anything and the door’s locked, mostly they’re just going to keep moving.”

Recording serial numbers is another way residents can help police. Those numbers help police return stolen property to the owner and to prosecute in court when stolen belongings are recovered.

“We’re headed into the spring and summer, so you’re going to have lawn services with all this equipment out,” Glover said. “We always have an uptick when all of these commercial lawn people are out. Sometimes entire trailers with equipment” are stolen.

Glover recommended securing equipment in trailers with quality locks and to secure trailers to vehicles. An investment in GPS trackers also could be a good investment, especially considering that commercial lawn mowers can cost more than $10,000.

“There’s literally hundreds of security devices you can buy to secure your lawn equipment,” he said.

File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]