Cheshire officials hold forum on stolen cars and thefts from vehicles
August 2, 2018Cheshire officials hold forum on stolen cars and thefts from vehicles
Car thefts and items being taken from vehicles is a problem plauguing communities across the state, according to the town’s police chief, but it has become enough of a problem here that nearly 100 people turned out at a forum Wednesday night looking for ways to put a stop to it.
Police Chief Neil Dryfe’s best advice: Make sure you car is locked before you go to bed every night. Dryfe said of the 89 cases in which items were taken from residents’ cars between January and mid-June, only two involved forced entry into a vehicle.
“It’s not as easy as it looks on television to break a car window using a rock,” he said. “And if you do end up breaking it, you’re probably going to wake up the whole neighborhood in the process.”
But Dryfe also acknowledged that in his nearly three decades in law enforcement, he has never seen the level of thefts from cars and of stolen vehicles currently occuring around the state .
Town Council Chairman Rob Oris said town officials are taking the rise in this kind of criminal activity seriously and have authorized Dryfe to increase patrols around town after midnight. The council also approved the purchase of an automated license plate reader, which would allow police to find out whether cars that are passing them while on patrol have been reported stolen.
“We should have that in about six to eight weeks,” Dryfe said.
Tim White, a former councilman, asked whether members of the law enforcement community are doing any studies to determine why there has been an increase in this type of criminal activity. Dryfe said he wasn’t aware of any, but state Sen. Len Suzio, R-Meriden, said criminal justice reform enacted two years ago has reduced the authority of judges in the state to deal with young criminals, particularly juveniles.
Specific criteria have to be met in order for a judge to authorize young criminals to be heard for trial, Suzio said. He serves on a juvenile justice subcommittee with two other lawmakers who have Cheshire constituents, state Reps. Lezlye Zupkus, R-Prospect , and Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire.
“It’s what I call a catch-and-release program,” Suzio said of current laws governing young criminals.
A bid to give judges more flexibility to deal with the problem passed out of the legislative subcommittee, but wasn’t allowed to come up for a vote before the full General Assembly, he said.