Police: 43% increase in car break-ins in Olney over past month
PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) Police say there's been a 43% increase in car break-ins in Olney over the past month. Neighbors are fed up and a community meeting was held on Monday night.
"What are we supposed to do? We keep spending money, hundreds of dollars, to keep getting these windows replaced and they keep busting them out."
Aja Logan showed FOX 29 receipts from hundreds of dollars in window repairs. Someone broke into her car three times over the past month.
"The first time was April 25th, then it was May 2nd and then it was this morning," she said. She also showed us pictures of her car after the break-ins near Rising Sun and Front Street. The first time she says they stole valuables she left inside. She says she stopped leaving things in her car but the thief still came back.
"They clipped my alarm this time. They took my fuse box out and they clipped my alarm so my alarm doesn't work now. So I have to replace that as well," said Aja.
Several other cars in her neighborhood had windows broken out too.
"We have people just putting the plastic up there and not replacing them because they don't want to spend the money because it keeps happening," she said.
On Monday, the Philadelphia Police 35th District called a special meeting to address the problem. They also shared surveillance pictures of a person of interest in the break-ins.
Captain Derrick Wood says there's been a 43% increase in car break-ins in the area. So far they've had 66 incidents in a month. 7 happened overnight.
"We have plain clothes officers in the area and also other highly motivated officers in the area trying to do quality pedestrian stops. So if we see someone out there in the middle of the night we walk up to them and ask what are you doing out there? You live in the area neighborhood?" said Captain Wood.
Police say the suspect strikes between the early morning hours of 4 and 8 a.m. Neighbors hope he's caught soon.
"It's very expensive. For me to work and I'm a full time student. I don't have any money to keep replacing windows," said Aja.