WESTFIELD- The Westfield Police Department is urging residents to lock their car doors and keep valuables out of their vehicles after a string of vehicle thefts and break-ins in recent months.
Police Chief Lawrence P. Valliere sent the message to Westfield residents Thursday because of an unusual number of vehicle break-ins in some neighborhoods. Valliere said that 99 percent of all vehicles that were broken into were not entered by force. The perpetrators only had to open the car door because residents frequently leave them unlocked.
“All of the stolen vehicles were taken because the keys or the key fobs were left inside the vehicle,” said Valliere.
In some cases, Valliere said that the keys that were left in the vehicle were stolen, but not the vehicle itself. He said this is still problematic because the key fobs typically have house keys on them as well, raising the risk of a home break-in in the future.
Valliere said that the spike in vehicle break-ins is playing out in other nearby communities as well as other parts of Massachusetts.
“The individuals responsible for the majority of these crimes are from out of state,” said Valliere.
He said that it is believed that the thieves are operating out of the Hartford, Conn. area, as several of the stolen vehicles have been discovered there. Westfield police have not been able to find a pattern to determine when or where the next break-ins will occur.
At one point, Valliere said, the police had positioned themselves in neighborhoods that they expected would be hit next, but without results. Valliere said that doing this every night would be impractical.
He said that when the stolen vehicles are located, they look for fingerprints and receipts that have been left behind. They use those receipts to go to stores or gas stations and pull security footage to try to identify the thieves. He said that in doing so some of these individuals have been identified.
Because the situation is ongoing, Valliere is urging all residents to keep their vehicles locked and to not leave any valuables or keys inside the vehicle.
