Police officials call it the "most preventable crime," yet it has accounted for 11% of all reported crimes this year in Cincinnati.
Car break-ins or "thefts from autos," in policespeak, saw a historic low in 2020 during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, but just like gas prices they have quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels and even surpassed them.
Year to date "thefts from autos" are up over 30% compared to 2020 and about 8% compared to 2019.
Where do these crimes happen? The short answer, according to Cpt. Doug Weisman, is "everywhere." Wealthy neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, Downtown and closer to the suburbs.
Neighborhoods with the most car break-ins this year
- Downtown
- Corryville
- Mount Auburn
- Walnut Hills
- Westwood
- Oakley
- Over-the-Rhine
- East Walnut Hills
- West Price Hill
- Pendleton
However, data also shows certain neighborhoods are seeing a big spike in this crime right now. Weisman is the police commander for Cincinnati's Central Business District, which covers the Banks and much of Downtown.
He recently took a count of the thefts from cars in his district and found there had been 104 so far this year. That's a 66% increase over 2019.
Since 2020 is an anomaly, The Enquirer compared year-to-date total from 2019 to this year for all of CIncinnati's neighborhoods.
Walnut Hills has seen a 219% increase. Pendleton's increase is 213%. Oakley is 89% higher. Corryville and Mount Auburn have also seen spikes over 50%.
Other neighborhoods have seen steep decreases. These include East Price Hill, Mount Washington, Northside, Pleasant Ridge, South Fairmount, Winton Hills and Westwood.
While Westwood makes the top 10 list, car break-ins have dropped 71% there compared to 2019. It would have taken the top spot that year with more thefts from autos that year than any other two neighborhoods combined.
Scooter gangs and golf clubs
Weisman said every leader in the Cincinnati Police Department is working to combat the problem and each neighborhood has its own vulnerable points, so different strategies are needed across the city.
There have been several recent arrests related to break-ins in the Central Business District.
Weisman said Lucas Shackleford was responsible for 20 thefts from autos after he found a set of golf clubs in an unlocked vehicle in The Banks garage and spent the next half an hour using one of the clubs to smash out the windows of other cars.
Two juveniles have also been arrested since the middle of May. Weisman said they were part of a group of eight to 12 teenagers who ride around Over-the-Rhine and Downtown on rented scooters stealing things out of cars.
The group has also stolen entire vehicles when given the chance, Weisman said.
Weisman said they have even been able to tailgate cars to gain access to private garages with roll-down garage doors.
He said he's deployed officers on bikes and Segways to patrol garages and curb the thefts. In other districts, officers might leave "report cards" on cars alerting people if they have left any valuables in plain sight.
'Put it in your trunk or leave it at home'
Despite the efforts of police, vehicle break-ins remain common. In several districts, there are more "thefts from autos" than any other type of crime.
Weisman said these are the most preventable type of crime.
"No one can steal anything from you if you don't leave valuables in your car," Weisman said. "Put it in your trunk or leave it at home."
He said in many cases just keeping things hidden and your doors locked goes a long way toward preventing thefts.
As of June 28, there had been 1,680 reported "thefts from autos" in Cincinnati. That's one every two and half hours. This does not take into account the thefts that go unreported.
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