TRI In The News
Police Say Late-Night Auto Break-In Warnings Ending Tuesday
From The Richmond-Times Dispatch
Original article available here
One day after a civil-liberties group blasted the Richmond Police Department’s practice of knocking on doors late at night to tell residents they are at risk of a car break-in, police officials said today they are ending the strategy next week.
“The initiative will end, as planned, Tuesday, May 1,” police spokesman Gene Lepley wrote in an email.
Lepley also corrected earlier information that the police had released. He said the program is in place in the North Richmond neighborhoods of Carver, Bellevue and Ginter Park, but not in northern Barton Heights, as police earlier had said.
Lepley added that officers have conducted 18 “wake-up calls” since they started the initiative April 7 in those three neighborhoods. So far this month, police report three thefts from vehicles in the targeted neighborhoods, compared with 14 thefts in all of March.
Under the initiative, midnight shift officers knock on doors from roughly 11 p.m. to as late as about 4 a.m. to let residents know when they have left valuables in plain view in their parked cars, which can entice thieves to break into vehicles.
During the relatively slow overnight hours, officers scan the inside of parked cars looking for valuables, run the license plates and visit the homes of the vehicle owners to warn them that they are tempting someone to steal from their car.
The Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute criticized the police strategy on Wednesday as a misguided effort that will alienate residents and infringe on their rights to privacy and to be free of unreasonable police intrusions.
John W. Whitehead, Rutherford's president, wrote in a Wednesday letter to Police Chief Bryan Norwood that the late-night knocks could alarm residents and make them fear a criminal intruder is outside. That could lead to a misunderstanding that could pose safety risks to the residents and officers.
Lepley said the department has received Whitehead’s letter and that it is being reviewed.
