Hinsdale Police's Advice Ignored

HINSDALE, IL — The Hinsdale Police Department has simple advice for those who want to keep their cars from getting stolen or broken into: Lock your cars and never keep your key fobs in your parked cars. The police have given this advice publicly before — several times in recent weeks — yet it is ignored. On two occasions in the last week, suspects removed garage door openers from unlocked cars and then used them to open and enter garages, police said.

The police reissued its advice late Thursday afternoon on Facebook. Overnight, though, two more cars were burglarized — one in the 400 block of South Bodin and other in the 400 block of North Madison. In both cases, the cars were unlocked, and the suspects used garage door openers to access garages.

Two weekends ago, two cars were stolen out of driveways in Hinsdale. One occurred in the 500 block of The Lane, while the other was in the 700 block of The Woodlands. In both cases, the cars were left unlocked with the key fobs inside, police said.

Thieves have been at work in nearby towns as well. In recent weeks, Patch has reported of break-ins of unlocked cars in Elmhurst, Western Springs and Burr Ridge, among other towns.

Police say thieves check to see whether cars are unlocked before they commit theft. On New Year's Eve, an Elmhurst resident reported that a man attempted to open the rear passenger door of a car in the 500 block of Fern Avenue, according to a police report. The victim shouted at the suspect, and the man ran away. The next day, Elmhurst police arrested a man on a charge of criminal trespassing after they found he had entered a car that was not his, a report said. The man said he was trying to find a place to keep warm.