Date:

June 22, 2006

For More Information Contact:

Officer Katherine Finnell, Public Information Officer, 441-7226

The Lincoln Police Department is investigating a series of crimes that have similar modus operandi that we believe citizens should be aware of. In the past two weeks there have been 132 larcenies from auto, which is not unusual but what is a new twist is that 7 of these incidents have occurred at recreational destination parking lots during daylight hours. The victims have been parking their cars at local parks, ballfields, the MoPac Trail lot and Holmes Lake Dog Run and leaving their cars. These vehicles are then being broken in to and the victims, all females, have had their purses stolen from the car. Another trend that we are seeing is that vehicles parked in driveways and on the street have been left unlocked and the thieves are getting into these cars, removing the garage door openers to the homes and entering the garages and stealing items from the garage.

Several ways to minimize your risk of being victimized by these types of larcenies is to place anything of value out of sight at the very least, and preferably lock the items in the trunk or glove compartment. The other thing that we are asking is to protect your garage door opener. Leaving the garage door opener in your unlocked vehicle is like leaving the keys to your house outside. Lock your vehicles and make sure that your garage door is closed before you go to bed at night.