PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Police are ramping up patrols in a local neighborhood after several cars were ransacked.
Video captured by home surveillance cameras and posted to social media shows a group of people checking for unlocked cars in Mt. Washington.
The videos were all taken overnight.
One man told Channel 11 he’s been a victim and this type of thing happens all the time.
“You wake up in the morning and your car is ransacked,” Mike Ciak said. “It’s always in the Fall. It’s always in the Spring.”
“My work truck, to be honest with you, I had $1,400 worth of batteries in a bag. They went through everything else,” Ciak said.
Another neighbor says she takes extra precautions.
“We catch it on our Ring every so often, checking doors,” Sophie Parr said.
She uses something called a “Faraday Box” to store her keys at night. This type of box is designed to block wireless signals that can be used to get into locked vehicles.
“It’s a measure I obviously don’t want to have to do but it’s simple enough. It is frustrating.”
We reached out to Pittsburgh Police. A spokesperson told us they are aware of thefts linked to car break-ins over the past two weeks, and they plan on ramping up patrols in the area.
In the meantime, neighbors say they’ll keep looking out for each other and locking their car doors.
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