 | | | This car parked in Lafayette had its window smashed. Photo provided
| | | | | | No one enjoys a visit by the Grinch who stole Christmas gifts out of the back seat of your car. Although there has been no confirmation of actual Grinch sightings, the damage is still the same. Lafayette residents have seen a spike in the number of property crimes lately. Sergeant Gwen Brady of the Lafayette Police Department explains, "We are a safe community but not a secure community. There's a big difference. People forget that not every person in town is a resident. While there's very little violent crime, there's a fair amount of property crime."
She offers the following advice: "Put packages and purses in the trunk, lock your car and your house. If you have an alarm - set it. Keep aware of your surroundings, if you see something unusual, jot down the license plate number and call the police."
Maybe it's a sign of the times, but it's unlikely that this trend will stop on New Year's Eve. In November, the most recent month that data became available, there were eleven residential burglaries, five vehicles stolen and fourteen petty thefts, mostly smash and grab incidents from addresses all over the city. "Be smart, these are normal common sense things," said Brady.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA