Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- Police in Park Forest issued a plea on Facebook trying to get some residents to lock their car doors. The request also included mention of a running, unattended vehicle that was stolen that day from Blackhawk Drive.
“Overnight we had six vehicles on Shabbona Drive entered and items stolen,” police said in the statement. “They were all left unlocked.
“We had yet another running, unattended vehicle stolen on Blackhawk Drive,” police continued.
The following reports relate to some of the vehicles that were burglarized:
- An officer was investigating a burglary from a motor vehicle in the 100 block of Shabbona Drive on February 5 at approximately 7:50 AM. The officer noticed a blue vest on the ground outside the door of a vehicle parked in that block. The officer made contact with a reside where the vehicle was parked. The resident determined that someone entered her vehicle, as well as her mother’s vehicle. Nothing appeared to be missing from either vehicle. The resident was not sure if she locked her car doors.
- The same officer spoke to another resident in the 100 block of Shabbona Drive. When this resident looked inside of his vehicle, he noticed that someone had rummaged through the inside. Upon further inspection, he noticed that his 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tablet was missing from the vehicle. The resident told police that he has a monitoring device inside of his vehicle that connects to his cell phone. At 1:36 AM, he received a notification that the doors to his vehicle were open. He told the officer that he slept through the notification and was not able to check on his vehicle. The officer did not see any signs of forced entry.
- An officer responded to the Park Forest Police Department at 12:07 PM on February 5 regarding a delayed report of burglary to a motor vehicle. The resident said that he had left his vehicle unlocked, parked outside his home in the 100 block of Shabbona Drive. When he went outside to his vehicle at 7:15 AM on February 5, he noticed that the interior of the vehicle was in disarray as if someone had rifled through the contents of the vehicle. The center console and glove compartment were open and miscellaneous paperwork was scattered on the driver and passenger seat. Nothing was taken from the vehicle.
Police refer to these as “crimes of opportunity.” There may be no premeditation. But, an unlocked car door invites temptation.
“Please help us out by not giving the opportunity,” police said in the social media post, “and we’ll help you out by continuing to vigilantly patrol your neighborhoods. And we’ll still put full effort into investigating the crimes that do occur, but wouldn’t it be nice to prevent them altogether?”
In a separate post, which we will explore at length, police warn residents against leaving unattended vehicles running outside. The PFPD is stepping up the issuing of municipal citations for these vehicles.
