Three cars had their windows smashed and things stolen last evening at a trailhead parking lot.
Lt. Andrew Wright says that the sheriff’s department received reports on Tuesday evening that three cars were broken into at the Run-A-Muk trailhead in the Snyderville Basin.
“They were walking their dogs at Run-A-Muk and came back to their cars and saw that their vehicles were broken into and all their personal items were taken. Shortly after that took place there were some charges at some local retail establishments so we’re collecting all of the information and working with whichever stores the credit cards were used at so that we can try to start identifying these people.”
The charges came at stores in Kimball Junction. Lt. Wright says that at least one of the victims had hid her purse in her car.
“Specifically, one had hidden their purse, but that purse was also taken. It just goes to show that if you are going to go out and enjoy our beautiful outdoors and you really truly don’t need your full bag. Of course, law requires that you carry your driver license with you. But if you can just minimize what you take with you when you’re going out for recreational purposes and then again lock it up in your glovebox compartment if it has a locking mechanism on it and you’re able to fit it in there. Put it in the trunk, put it in a place where it truly can’t be seen. That’s not the end all, that’s not what’s going to completely going to prevent you from becoming victim because a criminal is going to do what a criminal does. They may just bust out a window just to simply look to see if anything is in there but there are definitely things that people can do to minimize that potential.”
Lt. Wright says the best thing you can do to prevent break-ins is to not keep valuables in your car.
“If you do keep stuff in there you have to do everything possible to try to keep everything out of plain sight. Preferably in the trunk, because that’s completely out of sight. The best thing that people can do is to protect themselves by looking through the lens of what you would think a criminal would look through. When you walk up to your car what do you see through the windows? If there’s stuff in plain sight you should probably be removing that or at least putting it out of that plain sight”
Lt. Wright says that this time of year is of particular interest to criminals as holiday shoppers often leave valuables in their cars.
“They understand that we’re all out doing our holiday shopping and its important to do what you can to minimize having your vehicle broken into. So be smart about it. Of course, if you ever see or hear anything that’s suspicious we want to hear from the community. Oftentimes we’ll hear from community members they’ll say well I just didn’t want to bother you guys. Well that’s what we’re paid to do. Oftentimes when we get those phone calls about suspicious circumstances or people when we have deputies go and check that out oftentimes we prevent or catch someone in the act. So, it just goes to show that your eyes are our eye and your ears are our ears. We can’t be everywhere at once, so we rely on the community to assist us with that. Don’t hesitate to call us.”
