Ninety percent of the time, Benton police say thieves go door to door checking for unlocked cars, but say now they're doing something different. "They're coming along and they'll take a pry bar or even a screw driver and they're just prying the window out. Even basic cars have some kind of a car alarm that's attached but most don't have a motion sensor so they're set off by the door openings, so by them going into the window, they're able to bypass a little of that," says Lt. Kevin Russell, Benton Police Department.
Benton police believe the same thieves hit 17 cars in Benton, 7 on Wall Street in the Hurricane Lake Estates Neighborhood. These happened in late September, early October, but police are concerned the criminals will strike again. "During the holidays you always see a spike in this type of thing, for one, we're still in a recession and people are looking for easy money, and they can pawn this stuff," says Russell. Russell says police in Conway and Ward are investigating similar cases.
Police want to remind you to keep valuables out of your car and park it in a garage if you have one.
