Jack Crews was heading out for work when he noticed the rear window of his vehicle was rolled-down and open, which seemed odd because the car was parked inside his garage overnight, and he recalled leaving the car window shut.
He says he grew suspicious, and when he opened his garage door he found that his son’s car had been burglarized.
The left rear window of that car had been smashed, and the garage door opener had been taken. The burglar was then able to get into the garage with the opener and rummage through the unlocked car inside.
Nothing major was stolen from the car inside the garage: just some coins, frozen food, juices and coolers.
Jack Crews’ son, Chad, says he’s just thankful that his car wasn’t stolen, and that only minor things were taken from his dad’s car.
Chad adds that this is the family’s first auto burglary incident, but in retrospect, he does think there were some warning signs that it might happen.
“A few weeks ago my car was in front of my house, and it was dark when my dad drove by and noticed that there was a car pulled alongside the road,” he recalls. “Someone was looking into my car.”
While thinking nothing of it at the time, Crews family has since put the two together and realized that someone was probably scoping out the car before burglarizing it.
“Our theory was that they were maybe looking for a garage door opener, so that’s how they knew to come around later and find my car in the back,” Crews said.
Sr. Cpl. Janice Crowther of the Dallas Police Department’s North Central Operations Division says that a lot of people don’t realize what kinds of valuables they leave inside their cars.
“For example, most people leave insurance policies in their glove compartments, which contain the insurer’s address,” Crowther says. She recalls a situation where someone’s car was stolen and home burglarized while at work.
“The burglar saw the address on the insurance policy, broke into the victim’s house and pretty much hung out because he knew that person was at work. So you have to be careful,” Crowther says.
Since the incident, Chad says that he has learned his lesson and has taken action to prevent a burglary from happening again.
“At the officer’s recommendation, we put a latch on our gate so people can’t get in as easily,” Crews says. “And I know to no longer have the garage door opener in my car when I am parked outside.”
