A string of auto glass break-ins in Telford, the biggest town in Shropshire, England, has police suspecting a gang or group of thieves responsible for all the incidents. In total, eleven vehicles have already been reported as having suffered at the hands of the criminals, who have been shattering the windows of the cars in order to gain access to whatever precious items might be inside.
According to the police, most of the incidents are calculated to have taken place in the early morning, with the Peveril Bank, Old Office Close, and Edward Parry Court areas in particular danger, having had ample representation in the list of places hit by the thieves. In 2 cases, the sat navs were stolen after the thieves gained access to the vehicle interiors by breaking the auto glass, with the other 9 vehicles in the count said to have suffered damage as a result of the thieves rooting around for something valuable to take away as their loot.
Such incidents (auto glass break-ins, that is) have actually been on the rise in the past few months, not only in the United Kingdom but in other countries as well. In the United States, for instance, police have had to keep up with a spate of automotive burglaries steadily rising ever since Thanksgiving came along, with dozens to hundreds of reports of burgled cars being reported nationwide.
A variety of factors come together at this time to make auto glass burglary particularly attractive. For instance, the short winter days mean longer dark hours, which are the preferred times for thieves to strike. With more hours of the dark cloaking them, people with the intention of perpetrating some misdemeanour often find it easier to do so due to the security that blanketing cloak affords. Furthermore, because most people tend to stay inside their homes during the dark hours of the winter season, there are fewer chances of being spotted.
Another reason for car thieves being on the rise at this time is that the approach of the Christmas season leads to a flurry of gift-buying, which in turn leads to people leaving various shopping bags and wrapped presents in their cars. The sight of such items through the tinted auto glass of an average vehicle is extremely tempting to thieves, who often target cars with valuable items clearly on display.
The Telford police are suspecting that only one group of people is responsible for the recent attacks on local cars, due to the pattern of the break-ins as well as the area where the auto glass smashes all happened. The timescale too permits the possibility of only one group being responsible for the eleven incidents, and the local authorities are already looking for leads to help the investigation.
