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More break-ins in DUMBO

Wanted in car break-in spree
The Brooklyn Paper / Sarah Portlock

Cops have stepped up their patrols in and around DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights and Downtown hoping to thwart a spate of car break-ins that have prompted area residents to organize a virtual “Citizens Patrol,” The Brooklyn Paper has learned.

Thieves have broken into at least seven vehicles in the neighborhoods, stealing iPods and wallets from cars and construction equipment from commercial vehicles, cops said. Reported crimes include:

• A Long Island man parked his car on Plymouth Street, near Pearl Street in DUMBO, on Aug. 2 at 10 pm, only to return the next day and find it gone.

• A perp broke into a Connecticut man’s new Infinity sedan on Aug. 10 on State Street, near Flatbush Avenue in Downtown. The victim parked the car around 5:30 am, and returned later that morning to find his driver’s-side window broken and four credit cards gone.

• A contractor’s van was broken into on Aug. 11 around 12:30 pm, on Aitken Place between Sidney Place and Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights. The owner had parked there three hours earlier, and when he returned, saw the burglar running away with a cement chipper worth $2,000.

• A perp broke into a car on Pacific Street near Bond Street in Boerum Hill on Aug. 12 around 7 pm. His loot included nearly $11,000 worth of Canon cameras, lenses, flash cards, and batteries.

• A car that was parked on Hoyt Street between Fulton Mall and Livingston Street in Downtown on Aug. 14 was broken into sometime between 8:30 and 11:30 am — and $300 was taken.

• A perp broke into a car that was parked at the corner of Concord and Jay streets in DUMBO on Aug. 16. The victim parked at 7:30 am, and when she returned that evening, the driver’s window was broken and her wallet, which contained $400, was missing.

• A 2002 Audi was broken into on Schermerhorn Street, between Bond and Nevins streets in Downtown, on Aug. 17 between 9:30 and 11:30 am.

Residents believe that there are more crimes that go unreported, which keeps police in the dark about what is actually happening. That’s why members of the affected neighborhoods are keeping tabs on the problem through the online “citizen patrol” Web site, waterstreetwindowsmash.blogspot.com.

“No matter how pointless it might seem at the time, [any and all crimes] need to go on the books. Otherwise, to the NYPD, it never happened and neighborhood is doing just fine,” one poster wrote on the Web site.

The police source said that cops have narrowed down the suspect to “four or five” repeat offenders, but can’t arrest anyone until they can tie specific crimes to the suspects.

This has been the most common sight in DUMBO for the last three weeks.
The Brooklyn Paper / Sarah Portlock