Police Chief: Car Burglaries Down In Walnut Creek

First, the good news: according to the Walnut Creek police chief Joel Bryden, the number of burglaries from vehicles, including those nasty smash-and-grabs, where the thief breaks out a window and grabs whatever is available, are down this year from the same time last year.

According to Bryden, in the first quarter of 2012 there were 106 burglaries from vehicles. In the first quarter of 2013, there have been 92.

Now the bad news: there have been 92 vehicle burglaries in the first quarter of 2013.

“That’s too many,” Bryden said. “People can help us (and themselves) by doing some things to help prevent vehicle burglaries.”

Those include:

• Do no park your car in an isolated area;
• Try to park your car in an area that is well lit when it’s dark outside;
• Do not ever leave any items (purse, wallet, computer, phone, sunglasses, etc.) in plain view inside the vehicle.

Taking these steps will help prevent vehicle burglaries by not making it easy for thieves. The harder they have to work, the more likely they will seek easier targets. If thieves were into hard work, they probably wouldn’t be thieves.