Vehicle thefts continue in Oxford
Oxford Police have responded to almost a dozen attempted vehicle thefts and break-ins in the past month. Last week, two cars were stolen and later recovered, and two more were broken into.
Vehicular crimes are up in Oxford over the past three weeks.
Between March 31 and April 7, the Oxford Police Department (OPD) responded to two vehicle thefts and two additional thefts of items from vehicles. OPD reported one additional attempted vehicle theft on March 29 during Miami University’s spring break, and five attempted vehicle thefts or break-ins on March 17 and 18.
According to previous OPD media reports, the department had responded to just two attempted or successful motor vehicle thefts so far this year prior to March 17.
Lieutenant Adam Price said some of the vehicles targeted have been Kia and Hyundai models. Those two manufacturers had been targeted in thefts starting in 2020 due to their lack of engine immobilizers, but a software update in 2023 helped to cut thefts in half, according to CBS. Even when car owners have made the necessary upgrades, Price said attempted thefts can cause hundreds of dollars in damage.
“They cause lots of damage to the steering column, cracking the steering columns open,” Price said. “Some of those things are $500 to a couple thousand to fix, just for that person to break in and find out they couldn’t steal the car the way they had learned how to steal it.”
When a car is reported stolen, law enforcement enters it into a national database. From there, Price said, if the suspect is pulled over, the police officers will know the vehicle was stolen. Camera systems including Flock cameras, which are used in thousands of cities across the U.S., can also track stolen vehicles.
When items are stolen from vehicles, though, Price said recovery can be harder.
In the two vehicle thefts in the past week, reported on April 3 and 5, both vehicles were recovered after traffic cameras caught the license plates in Hamilton. One of the vehicles was stolen from Ogden Court, and the other was stolen from Hawks Landing. This was the second attempted vehicle theft at Hawks Landing in the past month.
One of the two thefts from vehicles last week was on Spring Street, and the other was on South College Avenue. In one case, the unknown suspect took more than $200 worth of Lululemon clothing.
OPD will canvas the neighborhood and look for ring cameras if they have a specific timeline for when thefts like that take place, Price said. They will also monitor pawn shops for sales of certain types of items and talk to witnesses, but paperwork and items without serial numbers are hard to get back.
“There’s usually not a whole lot to go on on those. We can still assess the situation and see what’s there and what leads develop,” Price said, but without footage or a way to track the items, people are less likely to get their stolen items back.
The best methods to prevent theft are to lock your car and hide or remove valuable items from it each day, Price said. He also advised parking in well-lit areas overnight if possible, and avoid leaving spare key fobs in your vehicles.
“If you see something suspicious, report it,” Price said. “If you see somebody walking around at 3, 4 in the morning and something doesn’t seem right, call it in. You’re not bothering anybody, and you might save somebody from waking up the next morning and not being able to find their car because somebody was out trying door handles and looking for a car that was unlocked.”
