Rash of break-ins on the mountain

People in a neighbourhood on Hamilton’s east mountain are being plagued by a rash of car break-ins in the middle of the night. And residents want everyone to get a good look at the culprits — to try to stop the thefts from happening.

This happened on a quiet, residential street not far from Stone Church and Upper Gage on the east mountain. No sign of anything wrong, at least in broad daylight. But it’s a different story at night.

The young man tries the door of one vehicle — it’s locked. Then he goes on to the next — it’s unlocked. He spends a good 25 seconds or so in the SUV before he leaves. This time empty handed. This is a crime in action.

But the vehicle owner wants this to stop.

Danielle Cote: “I just hope somebody will recognize him, maybe call the police or something. I just don’t want it to happen again.”

Car break-ins are so common in this neighbourhood that Danielle has security cameras watching her driveway at night. And the longer version of this video is a lesson in what to watch for.

Last Wednesday just before two in the morning. First, a man with a backpack walked by. Cote thinks he was watching for houses where people might be awake — to warn his friend.

More than a minute later the friend arrives. He tries the vehicle door that’s locked then goes on, signalling to his buddy and pointing at the next vehicle.

Danielle says she thought she locked it up that night and doesn’t know why it wasn’t locked.

She doesn’t keep anything valuable in the vehicle after previous break-ins.

And while the thieves got nothing here, there’s more evidence from last Wednesday not far away.

The neighbours say this broken glass here on the road is from the same night the security camera video was taken .

The result of a smashed car window.

“Very frequent. Next door several times. We’ve had it a couple of times.”

After also being hit by the midnight car break-ins, neighbour Pam Grinham is afraid of what could happen next: “Uneasy, very uneasy. Because if it’s a car, it could be a house and I can’t say everybody locks their houses at night. We do, but I don’t know if everybody does.”

They hope people will get a good look at the criminals and put a stop to their middle-of-the-night robberies.

The police tell them if you see this kind of thing happening in the middle of the night — if you see a crime in progress — call 911 and get the police on it.