Brookline residents call for increased police patrols as vehicle break-ins continue

PITTSBURGH — People in Brookline say they feel overlooked as car break-ins and thefts continue to plague their neighborhood.

“I’ve had my car rifled through before. It is like deeply offensive. It’s a violation,” James Lomuscio told Channel 11.

Brookline block watch member James Lomuscio has experienced a car break-in firsthand, much like many of the residents who live in his community.

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Home surveillance system videos constantly pop up on social media showing teenagers going in and out of cars during the middle of the night.

“It’s a big invasion of privacy. It probably amounts to the single biggest quality of life issue in the neighborhood of Brookline,” Lomuscio told Channel 11.

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He created a petition that has nearly 130 signatures asking for targeted patrols in Brookline dedicated to car break-ins and thefts.

“They had a sting in the middle of the night. They arrested someone, and immediately, those incidents went close to zero. It was effective and the results were immediate,” he added.

Lomuscio is talking about a story Channel 11 exclusively covered in April when police did an overnight sting to arrest a 17-year-old boy, who sources say was responsible for breaking into 100 cars and stealing a dozen of them from across the city.

The teen was released to his parents on a home-monitoring system.

“It’s frustrating for us when that sort of thing happens.. I know it’s as or more frustrating for the police who invest all the time and run these operations, arrest these juveniles or perpetrators and only to have them do the same or something similar later on,” he said.

But Lomuscio thinks getting the nightly patrols gets them a step closer to ending the constant car break-ins.

“The police can do this really effectively. When they dedicate the resources to these targeted operations, we know they’re effective and they should continue to do it.”

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