Police Warn Residents of Car Break-ins
• After another string of reported break-ins and property theft from parked vehicles, the Needham Police Department advises locals to take the proper precautions.
Although a vast majority of Needhamites report feeling safe in town — as indicated in a recent community survey — that comfort in their surroundings may lull them into a false sense of security.
Needham Police received 50 reports of motor vehicle break-ins since July 2023, several of which occurred in one night this month. In that time, police say 10 motor vehicles have also been stolen, including one just two weeks ago, according to the police blotter shared by the Needham Observer. Recent incidents seemed to have occurred within the same neighborhood: Mayflower Road, Pilgrim Road and Alden Road, near the Wellesley town line.
Though sporadic, the offenders — often juveniles from out of town — work in groups to check for unlocked cars, taking the valuables inside, Police Chief John Schlittler said. The summer could be to blame for the recent string of crime because school is not in session, but also because people are less likely to bring their cars inside than during the winter, Schlittler said.
The easiest way to prevent theft is to lock your car and remove anything desirable from it, Schlittler said.
“They’ll take whatever is there, change, purse, wallet, sunglasses,” Schlittler said. “Any other electronic device that may be left in the car, they’ll take.”
Cars with key fobs can specifically be targeted, since it’s faster to quickly start the car and drive it away, Schlittler said. Newer car models known to fold in their side mirrors when locked may also be susceptible to break-ins. Potential perpetrators can spot cars with mirrors sticking out, indicating they’re unlocked, Schlittler said.
The break-ins often occur during the overnight hours, making the apprehension of possible suspects challenging, but even if charges are filed, “they’re going to face no punitive actions from the courts,” Schlittler said. Minors can often avoid charges on the first offense and sometimes are uncooperative in an investigation, he added.
“It’s going to take a tragedy before hopefully there’s a change in what they do. We’ve encountered several people that — we try to pull over a car and they take off at high speeds, and our officers don’t pursue because it’s a property crime, so it’s not worth somebody getting hurt,” Schlittler said. “They know that they can take off. Unfortunately, the soft-on-crime approach for these individuals isn’t working.”
Locking your vehicle nearly guarantees its safety, Schlittler said.
“[If] they have to break a window, the alarms go off, and then we’re notified and they’ll call us. So that’s why they go into unlocked cars, because it doesn’t alert anybody, and they find out in the morning,” he said. “The best advice that we could say is lock your cars and take your valuables out.”
Break-ins aren’t just happening in Needham but in neighboring communities, including in Newton, Dover and Westwood.
A reminder posted to the NPD’s Facebook page generated considerable discussion, with some saying locking your car is “common sense,” while others considered how they’ve changed their own habits.
“Even though my neighborhood is quiet and safe, and the driveway is lit, I still lock my car,” one person wrote. “You can’t take things lightly these days.”
