I first noticed something wrong with my car before opening the door: a stack of business cards, normally placed in my center console, was strewn about the passenger side when I loaded up for work on a Tuesday morning.
My first thought was, “I don’t remember it being this messy.” My second, “I’m glad I didn’t leave the newsroom camera in my car.”
Then: “This is where it pays to have a trunk hatch lever that doesn’t work”; and, finally, “I really need to start locking my car.”
When I got to the Empire that morning, I found out I wasn’t alone.
A recent string of vehicle riflings around town has community members churning through a similar thought process, and though circumstances differ — luckily, I didn’t have anything of value in my car; the would-be thief even recognized my sunglasses as the $5 sort — the conclusion remains the same: I wish I had locked my car.
The Juneau Police Department has received reports of at least 27 vehicle riflings since Oct. 18, more than one a day. From Oct. 18 until Nov. 4, burglars have made off with nearly $1,825 worth of property and much more in property where value wasn’t reported to police.
“That is a lot, that’s not typical,” JPD Public Safety Manager Erann Kalwara said. “They usually just kind of come and go. It’s not uncommon when we get one, we get four or five, where one or a few people just go on a string of this kind of criminal activity.”
Reports have come from all over town, with several locations standing out as hot spots. Eleven of those reports have come from the downtown area, six from Douglas, six from the valley and one from Thane Road.
Locations with multiple hits include: Distin Avenue, Franklin Street and Gastineau Avenue downtown; Nowell Avenue and Seventh Street in Douglas; and Mendenhall Loop Road, which has been targeted by thieves the most in this time period, with three reports stemming from the sparsely lit thoroughfare.
As unusual as the numbers, the list of stolen items ranges from loose change to original art pieces and even car parts themselves.
Kiara Alexander’s story may be the most unusual. The health worker was enjoying a night with her son on Oct. 22 — they caught The Addams Family musical at Juneau-Douglas High School before heading to Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts to purchase some last minute costume items.
She said she didn’t have anything of value in her car.
“We drove over to Jo-Ann’s, and I didn’t lock my ‘98 Subaru because it costs less than whatever may be in there,” Alexander said during a phone interview. “… We were gone for about 30 minutes. When I came out, I went to go start my car and the clutch didn’t come back up. I could drive it, but it could only start, that’s all it could do.”
Alexander thought her car needed fluids, so she drove it to the JDHS auto shop. There, Stephen Squires, an award-winning small engines teacher at the school, found something unusual.
“Somebody had cut the clutch cord and had stolen a bracket, totally missing,” Alexander said. “Squires couldn’t figure out why it would happen. … I mean, he’s a really experienced mechanic, he can tell if the cord broke or was cut. It was cut.”
Alexander posted her story on Facebook a few days later. That’s when she learned a friend had his lug nuts stolen in the same parking lot.
“Yeah, that sucked!” she said of the ordeal. Alexander is a former addiction counselor, and said she thinks the recent car riflings could be drug related.
“In my experience, when value is stolen out of your car, yes it’s usually a common thing to happen in areas where there are high rates of drug use,” she said. “What’s weird is that nothing of value was stolen, we’re talking about a $40 part.”
In addition to Alexander’s clutch cord bracket, unusual stolen items include: a $200 piece of original glass art, along with $400 worth of art supplies, taken from a car parked on Auke Bay Harbor Road;
Kalwara said JPD is aware of the situation and their patrol officers are on the lookout for suspicious activity, but these particular cases haven’t been solved yet.
“Sometimes what will happen is they start on a corner and check doors, check doors,” Kalwara said. “If there’s somebody doing that when somebody drives or walks by, it will often scare them off.”
Kalwara also had advice for those wishing to avoid making a report.
“Locking is a great deterrent. There aren’t too many people that are going to break into a car if it’s locked,” she said, adding, “Parking on well-lit streets and areas with heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic will help.”
• Contact Sports and Outdoors reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.
People walk in the flats area of downtown, past lines of cars. The Juneau Police Department has received reports of at least 27 vehicle riflings since Oct. 18, more than one a day.
