Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to another episode of Your Briefing, a podcast from the Adams County Sheriff's Office. I'm your host, Sergeant Shea Haney, Public Information Officer for the Adams County Sheriff's Office. This podcast is a short form podcast aimed at educating you, the community, about what's going on within your community, within law enforcement and specific topics relating to law enforcement.
Speaker: So today we're going to talk about a few things. namely smash and grabs. These are burglaries, ah ATM thefts, and then car break-ins as well. And our tip of the week is going to be having a plan with your family in different situations. So let's get to it.
Speaker: All right, so what are we talking about? So a vehicle trespasses, also all car break-ins, are when someone ah breaks out your window, gets into your car, steals stuff, or tries to steal stuff.
Speaker: um this In addition, we're talking about burglaries. therere This is where they're smashing windows, ah going into liquor stores, taking guns, any of these type crimes that you guys have seen. We've also seen it at gas stations as well.
Speaker: And then also ATMs. Sometimes they'll smash the ATMs, they'll rope them and take them away. So car break-ins. So sometimes we have car break-ins when you keep your door unlocked, they open the door, they get inside, they ruffle through, they take a few things. ah those are Those are vehicle trespasses, those are car break-ins, even if they don't break your window.
Speaker: The other thing is, is the difference is between what we call a criminal mischief and a trespass. Some people will say, hey my car got broken into, but they never actually made it in. Someone just broke your window. then Those are kind of the differences. So where does this happen at?
Speaker: So unfortunately, these happen everywhere. So we'll talk about car breakings first. ah These happen your home, public lots, work, schools, really anywhere. These are very hard to to prevent.
Speaker: um Let's talk about ah the burglaries. So those are usually at liquor stores, gas stations, and... um Gun stores. Those are where we've seen them.
Speaker: Kids, sometimes teenagers, young adults will target these businesses. They'll break out the window, they'll clear them out, take thousands of guns or hundreds of guns um and move on. And it also happens at pot shops, too.
Speaker: So how can we prevent it? Well, it's hard to do. It's hard to prevent. um These are crimes of opportunity. So the best thing you can do is keep everything away from or out of your car to begin with. And then also keep everything out of sight if you are going to keep things in your vehicle.
Speaker: Now, there's a debate. Should you lock your doors or unlock your doors? If you're keeping anything in your car, you should probably lock your doors. This might make your windows more vulnerable or even broken out, but it might keep yourself safe.
Speaker: Sometimes these criminals will go around checking door handles, trying to get into cars. So you have to decide whether you would prefer your door unlocked and someone might get in your car or you keep your door locked and then they might break it out.
Speaker: um for businesses you want to keep everything locked up so if you're a gun store hopefully you're taking precautions locking up your items liquor stores it's a little bit harder to do unfortunately with a lot of these smash and grabs these guys will ram the doors they'll break the windows they'll steal all the items real close to the door and then they'll leave um but ways that we can prevent it spotlights on your house Get your motion activated lights to where if somebody is walking around checking doors, these things might pop up, scare them off.
Speaker: Also, you can get these outside your business. Get motion activated lights. ah Ring and nest cameras and then cameras around the house. We've talked about them on this podcast before. Make sure you have them. Make sure they're operational.
Speaker: and make sure that you can review that footage and give it to us. um In addition, if you're ah a business owner, a lot of times these guys will case these businesses prior. So making sure if someone's walking around your business and you're unsure why they're there, you can talk to them, you can call the police. We may be able to contact them and ah see what they're up to.
Speaker: If you're parking in a public spot, park in the light, park near cars. I know, you know, they say to park away so you can get your exercise. But if you're in the back lot, if you're in, ah you know, a secluded area, your car might be ah more of a target.
Speaker: And then also never give away any spare keys, garage door openers um to anybody. Keeping them in your cars also potentially puts your house at risk for a burglary. If somebody breaks in, steals your garage door opener and you don't get it changed.
Speaker: And then in addition, we've talked about ALPR cameras. Supporting glows within your community um can help us because even if somebody breaks into your car or your business and they don't have license plates using that technology, we may be able to track down their vehicle.
Speaker: All right, what should you do if you're a victim? Obviously call 911 or not emergency dispatch. You need to check your cameras. You need to see what you your cameras caught because that's the evidence that we that may be ah useful in breaking this open.
Speaker: Don't touch your car or your business or the area that these guys were in if you can avoid it. A lot of times we're not gonna get a whole lot of forensic evidence off of it, but we may be able to. So don't touch the door handles or anything else like that until you've called the police.
Speaker: What you're gonna need is you're gonna need your case number two for your insurance. Especially if this is your car and you're gonna file a kind claim, And we need to know what's in our car. What was stolen, the serial numbers, all of that. We can put that into our systems and hopefully help you recover any property that you might have ah you might have gotten stolen.
Speaker: And then if you come confront people in your car or your business, or if you see people, please don't confront them. um Unfortunately, in the news, people have been charged with crimes with confronting people while they're breaking into their cars.
Speaker: Shots have been fired. Don't do that. Call 911. Your property is is not worth it. And then after your report's done, keep an eye on Facebook, Marketplaces, eBay. See if your items are being sold. And if they are, contact the police, follow up with them, and hopefully that might generate some leads.
Speaker: All right. So let's move on to our tip of the week. The tip of the week is have a plan, right? So you need to have an evacuation plan at your house. You need to plan it and practice it, especially if you have kids. Know what you're going to do in case of a fire, um a tornado. ah If somebody breaks into your house, what's the plan? Make sure you practice that and and your kids know where to go, what you're going to do, especially if you have firearms in the house.
Speaker: How are you going to respond to that situation? Plan that out. um The other thing we need to do is plan for natural disasters. So having extra water, um food at the house is is important.
Speaker: ah This is coming out in September and that's National Preparedness Month. If you haven't followed our OEM page, please do so. You can find that link to our ah our social media. But have your rations, have your...
Speaker: items needed, have batteries, flashlights, all of those things. In Colorado, we're kind of moving into out of the the extreme summer season of winter and into the fall. But as the winter comes, power outages, blizzards do happen. we didn't get any last year, but maybe this year. But make sure that you're prepared.
Speaker: And then have an idea outside of the house. If you're in a public place, what are you going to do if there's an active shooter or an active incident while you're out with your family? Are you at church, in a restaurant?
Speaker: Where are you going to go? Where is your family going to go? Are you a concealed weapons carrier? All of these things you need to talk about beforehand so that when things happen, you're ready to go with your family.
Speaker: Okay? So... That's all we got for you today. We want to thank you for joining us. If you're watching this on YouTube, scan our QR code. If you have show ideas, please email us at communityconnections at adamsheriffco.gov.
Speaker: Follow us on all the major platforms on social media. You can follow this podcast on YouTube and Spotify. Make sure you don't miss an episode. And join us next time. Be safe.
