Significant Increase in Car Theft and Car Burglaries

Posted: October 12, 2020

Randolph Township and Morris County in general continue to experience both vehicle thefts and thefts from vehicles parked in residential settings during the overnight hours. The last two years have shown a significant increase throughout Morris County and the numbers are quite alarming.

In the majority of these incidents, the vehicles have been left unlocked and the keys or the key fob have been left inside the vehicle.

Residents play the most significant part in preventing these incidents and are the first line of defense when protecting valuables and property. The only way for you to protect your property and help prevent these incidents from continuing to occur is to simply remove all valuables from the vehicle each day and to lock your vehicle especially when parked in your driveway or on the street in front of your house. Never leave your keys or the key fob inside the vehicle and when possible park your vehicle inside a locked garage.

High end vehicles such as Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Range Rover, Porsche and Audi appear to be the most common vehicles targeted, but when easy opportunities present themselves, other models are also targeted.

Of increasing concern is the fact that in some of these incidents in Morris County, and most recently Randolph Township from over the weekend, the suspects have forced entry into the victims’ home in search of keys or key fobs in order to steal the vehicle.

As you can appreciate, these incidents are extremely difficult for law enforcement to combat and prevent for a whole host of reasons. More often than not, the incidents are not revealed until the following day as vehicles are left unlocked with the keys inside while suspects roam neighborhoods in the dark of night. Furthermore, Randolph Township features numerous residential neighborhoods spread out across a twenty-one square mile area.

Please do your part to help prevent these incidents from continuing to occur in Randolph Township by securing valuables and locking your vehicle. Be a good neighbor and have adequate outdoor lighting or motion activated lighting and report suspicious incidents at the time they occur.