Running, unattended cars targets for thieves; Three vehicles stolen Monday
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008I like to make sure you are getting the latest information on auto safety and that includes auto thefts. Hazel Park is seeing a rash of thefts, mostly on running cars. Below you will find a Daily Tribune article from March 12, 2008–Marty O’Neill, Insurance Agent
By John Michalak
Daily Tribune Staff Writer
HAZEL PARK — Three vehicles were stolen in Hazel Park Monday and all the owners could be charged in connection with the thefts.
The owners left their vehicles running and unoccupied with keys in them. That’s a misdemeanor violation of a local ordinance, said Hazel Park Police Chief David Niedermeier, who again on Tuesday reminded residents about the law.
Niedermeier last year forewarned residents that police would charge persons when they saw cars running without anybody attending to them. The warning came when the city had a rash of vehicles stolen after residents warmed the vehicles.
“You can’t leave cars running and unattended,” Niedermeier said. “Obviously that’s what happened in these cases. It is a common ploy by car thieves to look for exhaust smoke.”
Instead of residents helping thieves, Niedermeier said they should take measures to reduce crime opportunity.
“The majority of property crime — and some violent crime — can be stopped simply by hardening the target,” Niedermeier said. “Don’t make yourself and your property easy targets. You don’t leave your valuables in plain view, your cars running or your bikes on the front lawn. And that’s the case regardless of what community you live in. Citizens can go a long ways in reducing crime rates by using common sense.”
In the most recent car thefts, one of the victims got her vehicle back after she saw it unoccupied at a gas pump at a Sunoco station on Eight Mile Road in Detroit.
The victim, Nicole L. Meier, 25, had reported her 2000 Pontiac Grand Am stolen shortly before 8 a.m. on West Milton.
Nearly two hours later she and her boyfriend spotted the vehicle at the gas station and called Hazel Park police. An officer stood by the vehicle as Meier went home to get another set of car keys. A clerk at the gas station told police he didn’t see the driver of the stolen vehicle.
“I don’t think I’ll ever do that again,” said Meier, adding she didn’t know warming her vehicle unattended is against the law. “I learned my lesson. It won’t happen again.”
Meier said she had a hunch her Pontiac Grand Am wouldn’t go far because the gas light came on the night before the theft.
“It didn’t have any gas so my boyfriend and I went around looking for it,” Meier said. “It ended up being at a gas pump at the Sunoco station five blocks away from my house. The car was in drive, but there was no damage to it.”
Since the thief kept her keys, Meier said she purchased a Club wheel lock for her car and changed the locks to her house.
Other vehicles stolen Monday were a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am on the 1000 block of East Pearl and a 1999 Pontiac Montana from the 300 block of East Milton.