Air Bag Thefts…and Other Crime News

LAPD Olympic Division Senior Lead Officer Joseph Pelayo sent out a warning this week about thefts of air bags from local vehicles, parked both on the street and in apartment building garages.  As noted in the flier below, the thieves have targeted a variety of vehicles, and smashed windows to get at the airbags.  If you see any suspicious activity in or near parked cars, please report it immediately to the police.

Also, in an e-mail to the community a couple of days ago, private security firm SSA reported on a number of other recent crimes in the general area.  They included:

• Auto theft, 100 block of S. McCadden Pl., week of July 30.
• Burglary, 600 block of S. Arden, August 4
• Burglary, 600 block of N. Cahuenga, August 6
• Burglary, 500 block of Lillian Way, date unknown

In the McCadden auto theft, the homeowner was out of town at the time of the theft, but security video captured an image of the suspect, at right.

In the Arden burglary, a neighbor saw two African-American men (one wearing a red hooded jacket and the other a green hooded jacket; the man in green was described as “chubby,” about 5 feet tall and 130 lbs.), going to the garage side of a neighboring residence.  The neighbor’s husband went to the front door of the victim’s house, knocked and realized no one was home.  When he walked around to the garage side of the house, he heard activity and saw the two suspects attempting to hide.  When he asked what the men were doing, the suspects ran off in two different directions.  When the homeowners returned, they discovered the house had been broken into, but – likely due to the neighbor’s intervention – only “minimal” items were missing.

In the Cahuenga burglary, a middle aged white man (described as a “possible transient”) tried to force open the front door.  The resident called police and the suspect was arrested.

Finally, in the Lillian Way burglary, the resident found a brick had been thrown through a back side door (an alarm was set, but did not activate).  The incident was reported to LAPD.

If you witness any suspicious activity, at your residence or a neighbor’s, please contact both LAPD (911 for emergencies or 1-877-ASK-LAPD (275-5273) for non-emergencies) and/or your private security firm, if you subscribe to one.  Police reports are very important as LAPD cannot log or investigate criminal activity it does not hear about.