Crime & Safety

Message from Police: Lock Your Vehicle Doors

A number of vehicle burglaries have taken place recently.

Naperville residents the police are asking that if you aren't already locking your vehicle doors that you start. Also, do not leave items of value in plain sight inside vehicles.

Leaving doors unlocked presents a crime of opportunity, said Sgt. Gregg Bell.

“It doesn’t seem like we can tell the public enough to lock your doors and don’t leave valuable merchandise visible,” he said. “They fail to lock their vehicle or fail to remove or conceal items of worth.”

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Recently golf clubs, iPads and GPS units have been stolen from inside unlocked vehicles, as noted in the police blotter. Some vehicles have also had the windows broken out and items taken from inside locked vehicles.

Residents may feel that Naperville is a safe place and not see the need to lock their vehicle doors at night, but Bell said that it isn’t worth jeopardizing the theft of items left inside. He said it is better to take precautions.

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Not only does it inconvenience the vehicle owners, it also puts a drain on the department when officers must respond to the incidents, he said.

Along with the trend in car burglaries, general neighborhood mischief tends to increase during the summer months when kids are out of school, it is a seasonal issue, he said. The police blotter has reflected this in the number of general juvenile shenanigans where mailboxes have been damaged or destroyed, yard ornaments and planters have been broken and eggings have taken place.


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