IRMO, S.C. — Car break-ins are not a new community concern in Irmo. However, with the development of easy-to-use video surveillance technology, it is easier than ever to catch burglars in the act.
There are also very easy ways to prevent these break-ins from ever happening in the first place, like double- and triple-checking that your door is locked before you head inside for the night.
“So of the 26 that we’ve had this year, 11 of them were unlocked and we’re seeing that mostly in the residential areas,” Captain Courtney Dennis with the Irmo Police Department told us. “If you do have to leave your valuables in your vehicle, lock them up. Put them in a trunk or put them in a glove box and lock that glove box. Don’t make it easy. Make it hard for them."
Community member Erik Sickinger saw on an Irmo Facebook group one day that there were car break ins in his neighborhood. Since he has cameras already set up around his house, Sickinger decided to go through the footage from the night before.
“I looked through the entire night’s worth of footage and found multiple people walking around the neighborhood, and one of them they were standing right here, I guess looking at my cameras," remembered Sickinger.
“I always make sure that I clean out my car before I come in at night. Its impossible to always remember every time to get everything out of my car and its impossible to remember to lock the car every single night," says Sickinger, "But I always try to make sure that before I go to bed one of the things that I do is to check that the door is locked, also make sure the car is locked as well.
It makes me feel uncomfortable because I think that Irmo is a safe town," Sickinger admits, "so I’m not sure if these people are from Irmo or they’re outside of the city.”
Cpt. Dennis did tell us that of the suspects they have caught, the residential car break-ins are more commonly community members. When they catch people who have broken into businesses, they are usually from out of town.
Captain Dennis gave us a few tips:
- If you are out and about, especially at a gym or some kind of fitness studio, make sure you lock your things up because break-ins do happen during the day.
- Do the best you can to just bring your valuables into your home at night.
- If you see something suspicious, always say something to law enforcement.
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