INDIANAPOLIS -- It's a popular Broad Ripple neighborhood where neighbors walk their dogs and kids play in the front yard. But it's not without its crime.
“To us it is very safe,” neighbor Jennifer Gray said. “It is very surprising because we don’t see anything or hear anything.”
The area of 63rd Street and Central Avenue was the target of car hopping just last night. It's a relatively new term consisting of familiar criminal habits.
“They will have a car of their own and they will just kind of walk along and try the doors,” IMPD Sgt. Catherine Cummings said.
If the car is unlocked, the suspects take what is inside and then move on to the next one.
“It is going to draw the least amount of attention. It is going to make the least amount of noise,” Cummings said.
Luckily the neighbors spotted the thieves in action, and they were caught shortly after.
“There are little rashes of them that pop up here and there in this neighborhood anyway. It has been going on for at least the four years I have lived here,” Susan Knox said. “It’s just a matter of who and when.”
Knox once had her bag stolen.
“Because a bag with clothes in it might be a bag with a wallet,” Knox said.
To prevent the break-in, and the headache to follow, Cummings recommends removing everything from your car and locking your doors.
“It is actually very easy: Don't leave things in your car,” she said.
