In light of a recent string of car break-ins, Madison Police officers are asking residents to be vigilant and lock their cars at all times.

Madison Police Chief Jack Drumm said cars are being broken into across town; the suspects seem to only be targeting unlocked cars. Drumm said about nine cars have been broken into in Madison.

“Most of the shoreline towns got hit by a group,” he said. “What we do know is they are out of the New Haven area. They have gone in mostly unlocked cars and in some cases, including one in Madison, they have stolen a car because the keys were in it.”

In the case of the stolen car, Drumm said residents with newer vehicles equipped with a push-start ignition need to be vigilant in remembering to take that key with them when they lock the vehicle. However, Drumm said this stolen car may also help officers locate the suspects.

“It did have a feature for tracking and we tracked it to a neighborhood in New Haven,” he said. The suspects “disabled the car, but they left the vehicle before anyone could get them in custody...We processed the car and we have some pretty good prints, so we are going to follow that up through the lab with some other evidence that we got.”

Drumm said the easiest way for residents to protect their vehicles is to remember to lock them at all times. He said the suspects are taking whatever they can when they enter the unlocked vehicles—“Change or anything worth value that is not a part of the vehicle,” he said.

In addition, there have been reported incidents of suspects vandalizing cars at the train station parking lot.

“They cut out the catalytic converters,” he said. “They get a lot of value for those on the black market…Generally those crimes occur at car dealerships, airport parking, long-term parking, things like that. If they see the car there overnight, they know that people are down in the city for the weekend.”

Drumm said those suspects can be difficult to spot because the tools used to remove the converters aren’t very loud and the suspects can hide under the cars when someone walks by.

“We are increasing patrols and now the patrols are getting out and looking under cars,” he said.

Madison Police encourage all residents to remain vigilant, lock their cars, and call the department at 203-245-2721 if they see anything suspicious.