Westfield Mayor: Lock Your Cars

WESTFIELD, NJ - Ten-months into the year and Westfield Mayor Shelley Brindle has a solution for the stolen car issue in town - lock your doors. Brindle made this announcement during the Tuesday meeting of the Mayor and Council.

"We had another three cars stolen in the last two weeks which brings a total of 19 this year," Brindle said. "Additionally, there were 104 reported motor vehicle burglaries."

Brindle said that the thefts were made easier because not only were the door to the cars unlocked, but the key fob to activate the car wasn't secure.

"Each stolen car had a key fob located inside at the time of the theft," Brindle said. "And every burglary was to an unlocked vehicle."

Brindle said that thieves are using technology that allows them to identify which cars have the fob inside them and the thieves know a crime of opportunity when they see one.

"Unfortunately, our absent mindedness creates an unfair burden on our police department who then spend precious hours tracking down these stolen vehicles or reporting burglaries instead of focusing on meaningful crime prevention," Brindle said. "Let’s work together together to ensure Westfield is no longer an easy target."

(Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

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