Vehicle thefts up in Cape Girardeau, police department shares tips

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – Vehicle thefts and break-ins in Cape Girardeau have increased in recent weeks.

Cape Girardeau Police Department Public Information Officer Bobby Newton said a big reason for this increase is simply the fact that it’s summertime, and they deal with a considerable number of juvenile cases. 

“We can contribute a lot of that to school being out,” he said. “Some juveniles are out walking the neighborhoods late at night, early in the morning and getting into vehicles that are unlocked.” 

And while Newton said this summer really isn’t all that different from others, the department is short-staffed and can’t be everywhere at once. 

“We rely heavily on the citizens,” he said. “They live in those neighborhoods, and they know typically who their neighbors are and who’s supposed to be in that neighborhood, so if they see somebody wandering around at 2 o’clock in the morning in their neighborhoods and it’s not typical behavior, they can contact us, and we can come out and find out what that individual is doing.” 

Newton shared his tips for making sure you don’t become a victim of a car theft or break-in.  

“I’ve hammered on it and hammered on it to make sure you’re locking your vehicles and removing the valuables out of them,” he said. “A lot of people like to leave a spare key in their vehicle or hidden around their vehicle, and we advise against that strongly because somebody will find that key.” 

But car thefts are not completely unavoidable, and Newton said the license plate readers recently installed around town have helped considerably.

“The officers get that information as the vehicles pass the cameras in real time, so if there’s a stolen vehicle in that system, as it passes that camera, we get an alert on our tablets, and we can see exactly where it’s at and the direction it’s going,” he said.