TAMPA, Fla. — With the holidays, police and deputies throughout Tampa Bay are seeing an uptick in “car hopping,”… which is organized groups of criminals traveling to residential neighborhoods to steal from vehicles.
I-team investigator Adam Walser talked with a local victim who captured the crime on video and hears from law enforcement how to best stop this crime of opportunity.
“What we found was this open. All the contents were on the seat. This was opened up,” Ed Maurer said, showing us how a car parked in front of his residence was rifled through last week.
“I came out and saw my center console of my truck open and stuff just everywhere,” Maurer said.
He checked out the footage from his surveillance cameras which showed an organized group of at least four suspects arrived in an SUV at 5:30 am.
“They would come down to the end of the cul-de-sac, slowly, lights off. Turn around,” Maurer said, describing what he saw in the video.
“The car would be heading out. They would jump out and some would go to one side of the street, some would go to the other side of the street,” he said.
It’s a growing crime.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s crime map, 195 vehicle burglaries many in clusters, were reported in the past month.
An attempted car burglary involving a group of three suspects was captured on camera in Carrollwood Monday night.
In Tampa, there have been 1,779 reported car burglaries since January 1.
Of those, 1,411 happened because cars were left unlocked.
“If you leave it open, it’s really just a crime of opportunity. You’re giving the criminals an opportunity to ransack your vehicle,” said Tampa Police spokesperson Merissa Lynn.
She says it’s a frustrating crime for officers because it’s so easy to prevent.
“Really, it takes two seconds. Most cars come with a key fob now, so it’s as easy as a push of the button. For those others who still have to put the key in, it takes literally two seconds. It’s the easiest way to protect your car,” Lynn said.
She says people should not leave valuables in their vehicles, should park in well-lighted areas and should never leave firearms in unlocked cars or trucks.
“It’s really a very preventable thing. If people would just lock their doors, it would nail down this crime,” Maurer said.
He shared his video with police, hoping it will help them identify the suspects.
He says nothing of great value was stolen in his neighborhood, but he and his neighbors are being more careful from now on.
“If you get complacent… this is a low crime neighborhood…you may not be as diligent about locking the doors as you should be. But we are now,” he said.
If you have a story you think the I-Team should investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com
