The Day – Car thefts, break-ins continue to plague police in East Lyme, elsewhere in region


The Day - Car thefts, break-ins continue to plague police in East Lyme, elsewhere in region


East Lyme — Police Chief Michael Finkelstein can’t repeat this enough: Lock your car and take the keys into the house.

In the past week, two unlocked cars were stolen from the Black Point area, Finkelstein said. One was recovered in Hartford. The second vehicle was recovered, while occupied, in the Westbrook area by state police from Troop F, who reported they made an arrest, the chief said.

Overnight Sunday, multiple cars in the Flanders section of town were entered. Thieves took credit cards from some of the vehicles and used them a couple of hours later in Hartford and Holyoke, Mass., according to Finkelstein.

Car break-ins and thefts have plagued most local towns, and Finkelstein said police in the region constantly share information, including surveillance video from the victims’ home surveillance cameras, or video from the stores where stolen cards are used.

The crimes are largely preventable, since the videos often show people trying a car door, finding it locked, and moving on.

“It really is a plague that happens where people are preying on people who leave cars open,” Finkelstein said. “We’re not having situations where windows are being smashed. It’s people looking for opportunities.”

When police are able to make an arrest, it often involves people in their late teens and early 20s, the chief said.

In some cases, investigators are finding a car stolen from one area will be used to take multiple people into other neighborhoods where they fan out in groups to conduct break-ins.




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