Guelph Police are warning residents of the prevalent issue of vehicle break-ins.
“It’s happening multiple times weekly, if not every night throughout our city, in all neighbourhoods,” said Kyle Grant, a Guelph police community resource officer.
Shawn Twine said his car was broken into overnight between Thursday and Friday while it was parked in the lot near his home.
“My heart sank. I turned around to look in the back and noticed all my tools and golf clubs were gone,” said Twine. “Out of my pocket, if I was paying for it, it would be $6,500 roughly to replace everything.”
The tools that were stolen are used for his work, and now he is planning to leave his valuables in his home to avoid this incident from reoccurring.
“You’re taking away my ability to work and provide for my family,” said Twine.
He is submitting an insurance claim but said he feels “personally violated” by the incident.
Grant said the summer months are a particularly troubling time for these crimes of opportunity. He said getting ahead of the criminals can start with taking the most simple steps of prevention.
“Make sure they’re locking their car doors, keeping their windows up, they’re keeping any sort of valuables out of the car or very least, out of sight,” advised Grant.
Police urged those who believe it’s safer to leave their doors unlocked to reconsider and said it is a misconception.
“The vast, vast, vast, vast majority of the time, when that car door is locked, they simply move onto the next vehicle,” said Grant, “if everyone out there could just be a little more vigilant and ensuring they’re locking up their vehicles, it would really help curb this type of activity from happening in our city.”
