The Madison Police Department is attributing this year’s decrease in vehicle crimes to a joint effort with community volunteers that addressed the concerns of residents to these disturbing incidents. The “Lock It or Lose It” campaign appears to have paid off, according to department figures, as the number of vehicle thefts and break-ins have both dropped substantially in 2021.

According to statistics supplied by the department, motor vehicle thefts in Madison dropped from 31 incidents in 2020 to 20 in 2021, a 36 percent decline. The number of vehicle break-ins decreased from 57 incidents in 2020 to 45 in 2021, a 19 percent reduction for that offense.

Captain Douglas Harkins and Lieutenant Neal Mulhern of the Madison Police Department were the community liaisons in the partnership. Harkins said the collaboration of community leaders and the department were instrumental in achieving the decline and credits the diligent partnership efforts as a major factor in the decline. Harkins stated that their efforts “absolutely” had a positive impact on the reduction.

“In October of 2020, we met with some community stakeholders and associations in town and developed a plan, the Lock it or Lose It campaign, which was an effort to educate residents to lock and secure their belongings so they do not become a victim,” said Harkins. “It’s a good example of how the department can work together by meeting with the community, devising a plan on how we can come together and reduce crime. These partnerships were excellent in that we identified a problem, came up with a plan, and actually saw a reduction in this crime the community was concerned about. It was positive all around.”

Harkins also provided statistics concerning the post-incident data on vehicle crimes.

• All of the reported stolen vehicles in 2021 have been recovered and either returned to their owner or were found damaged to being involved in accident.

• There were five arrests made in connection to the 2021 thefts, two by the Madison Police Department.

• In nine of the cases, Madison Police detectives processed and recovered the stolen vehicles and are awaiting DNA results from the Connecticut state forensics lab.

According to Harkins, the department used a number of platforms to educate the public as to how to avoid being a victim of this type of crime. The department set up digital road signs and used lawns signs and door tags to make residents aware of the issue.

Simply remembering to lock your vehicle is the first and most important step in deterring vehicle crimes, Harkins stressed. According to Harkins, camera footage of some of these crimes and other attempted thefts clearly demonstrate how these criminals operate: They simply walk up driveways see if the car doors are open, and if so, they steal whatever valuables are in the vehicles, and then attempt to start the vehicles, and steal those as well.

The new start button technology of today’s vehicles are convenient for owners and unfortunately also for thieves. Harkins said many people leave the key fobs in their vehicles or store them in close enough proximity to their cars where the start mechanism will operate allowing thieves to take the vehicles.

In other incidents, thieves actually entered residences looking for keys making the threat and violation all the more invasive and dangerous, although Harkins noted that in every vehicle theft they investigated, the keys or key fobs had been left in the vehicle.

“The public was making it easy for the thieves by leaving their keys in their vehicles,” said Harkins. “Educating the public and coming together with this campaign was definitely the reason we turned this around. This really was more or less about education. Changing people’s behavior can be difficult. Madison in general is a very safe community, but these simple steps or locking your doors and taking your keys with you are effective methods of prevention.”

Harkins said a number of issues come into play as drivers for the increase in these crimes, but that flaws in the juvenile legal system are unfortunately a major factor in the theft uptick.

“A change in the juvenile justice system seems to have been a part of this. Most of the offenders we are finding are juveniles, and we are noticing that this is the trend,” said Harkins.

Community Support

Nancy Karas, who is on the Board of the Seaview Beach Association, was one of the community leaders who approached the department for help when they began to see a dramatic rise in these crimes in 2019 and 2020. Karas’s family had a car stolen and also one of her children’s vehicles was broken into as well.

Karas said the partnership with the department demonstrated how effective community and police collaboration can be.

“We along with several other associations in the area began to see a large rise in these incidents. There were break-ins, and several cars were stolen, so the concern was growing” said Karas. “We started a kind of task force on our own, collecting data and talking with folks from other parts of town and it ended up where we went to a [Board of] Police Commissioner’s meeting and [Mulhern and Harkins] provided information that were very helpful. There was a lot of concern from both the police department and the community, and what came out of that meeting was a consensus that we needed a mental shift. And collectively we devised the Lock It or Lose It campaign, and to help bring awareness to the issue.”

Karas said that although she did not necessarily have the data to support it, she echoed Harkins’s assertion that the campaign had a direct impact on the reduction seen in 2021.

“I don’t make assumptions, but nothing else changed except for this change in awareness,” said Karas. “Candidly, I have to say yes that it did help, because there wasn’t another metric or intervention that occurred.”

Karas said that the collaboration with the department reflected how effectively they responded to community concerns and how these types of partnerships can solve problems and encourage cooperation.

“They were grateful when we came to that meeting. There was a sense that we all wanted to work together and that we all had a sense of appreciation. They were grateful for the help and we certainly appreciated that they took then time to let us share our concerns and show us their data,” Karas said. “It really does take a village. The more people who are aware and partnering with our police department is a really, really good thing. This was a great lesson to me and to our neighborhood in how we can work together. The department has been great.”