Flashy car rims and tires can certainly be attention grabbers.
In Mill Island, thieves have apparently started to take notice.
At least four recent incidents have locals pining for more police patrols.
“They jacked up the cars and stripped them bare,” said Saul Needle, the president of the Mill Island Civic Association.
Needle, who is also the chair of Community Board 18, said the 63rd Precinct has been notified about the problem and is “well aware” of it.
“Deputy Inspector Frank Cangiarella promised he would pay more attention to this crime,” Needle said.
At press time, Cangiarella was unavailable for comment.
Officials said that between April 6 and April 17 at least four car owners in Mill Island and Bergen Beach left their homes to find their vehicles sitting on blocks.
On April 10, a 51-year-old resident of Whitman Drive told police that someone took the tires and rims off of his 2008 Mercedes Benz as it was parked in front of his home. The car strippers went about their work sometime after 10:30 p.m., cops were told.
On the next night, thieves stripped a 2007 Cadillac Escalade of its shoes as it was parked on East 64th Street between Strickland Avenue and Mayfair Drive North.
The thieves were a little more brazen about a week later, when they robbed a 2008 Chevy Tahoe of all four of its tires and rims as the car sat in its driveway on Royce Street between Avenue W and Avenue X.
The same night, thieves removed four tires and rims from a 2006 Cadillac parked on Bergen Avenue near Avenue T.
District Manager Dorothy Turano, the district manager of the community board, said the incidents could be indicative of a slowdown in the economy
