MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – More than two dozen vehicles have been broken into in Murfreesboro since last Friday.
Officers have responded to an alarming number of car break-ins over the past few weeks, tying up valuable resources police say could be used to fight more serious crimes.
Video from one of the latest break-ins shows two suspects rummaging through the trunk of a vehicle on Alysheeba Run. The burglars stole a Ruger SR45 handgun.
“Once school lets out and juveniles are allowed to be out later in the summer evening hours and into the nighttime, in many cases without very much parental supervision at all, we’ve seen an increase in car burglaries,” said Sgt. Kyle Evans with the Murfreesboro Police Department.
The area of Corcus Court was hit sometime Friday morning through Monday.
“Our neighbor right here, and at our house, and from I’ve also been told the house down at the corner of the street,” said victim Justin Holman.
Holman had a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses and a lottery ticket stolen. He says that’s minor to all the guns that were taken from other vehicles, about 35 over the past month.
“It’s scary to have that many guns on the streets, especially in the hands of people who may not even know how to use them,” he told News 2.
Police say the increasing number of car burglaries is tying up valuable police resources instead of proactive crime fighting.
“This time of year we increase our residential patrols, and when there is a burglary to a car, that does tie up resources that could otherwise be out patrolling the area where we’ve had some of the incidents lately, some of the more serious drug-related shooting incidents,” explained Sgt. Evans.
Murfreesboro police say these car burglars are not just going around smashing out windows because the sound will cause too much of a commotion. Most of the time, they are checking for unlocked doors.
Officers recently responded to a break-in in progress and arrested a juvenile in the act.
“When dealing with juveniles especially, it’s very frustrating because by the time they are booked, they are released back out on the street and free to commit more and more of these type crimes,” added Sgt. Evans.
Police say the best way of not becoming a victim is to always make sure your car doors are locked and never leave anything of value inside.
*Courtesy Of News 2 WKRN-TV Nashville*
