‘This is beyond a problem’: Vehicle burglaries up 40% city-wide
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Many people around the City are saying car break-ins are getting worse as NOPD investigates a fresh batch coming from the area of a film production Tuesday night.
“This is beyond a problem. Something has to be done,” Justin Goutierrez said.
Goutierrez was working on a film production last night when he got the call around midnight that 20 vehicles, including his, had been broken into in the crew lot by Mardi Gras World.
“Worst of all is the headache, this is what I have to deal with now and I’m trying to be on set within 40 minutes from right now and I still haven’t even been able to find a body shop that’s available. This is just insanity,” Goutierrez said. “Body shops are booked, there’s no rental cars available.”
Coming off of a 13 hour day and making a 40-minute drive home on shattered glass in the cold, Goutierrez is disheartened, to say the least.
“In doing this they didn’t just mess up my vehicle, they messed up my income that’s really needed right now,” Goutierrez said. “It’s really hard to have something I paid off, which is a huge, giant accomplishment for me, and this is what happens.”
He says there wasn’t an officer to help him or his co-workers.
NOPD says they are investigating seven burglaries and that a later call reported additional burglaries at the same location, but that call was referred to the alternative police reporting unit for a follow-up.
“I feel like my sense of security was just ripped away from me,” Goutierrez said.
NOPD data shows vehicle burglaries are up 40% year to date, city-wide.
“I imagine I’ve spent at least $5,000 on fixing car windows in the past couple of years,” Michael Morris said.
Morris lives in the Bayou St. John neighborhood and says he and his neighbors wake up to their street littered with glass constantly.
Monday night, was the second time in less than a month his truck had been broken into. The thieves smashed glass he just replaced.
“The kids come up the street, they break the all the car windows, they dive through the windows,” Morris described.
It happens to his cars so often, he has a standing relationship with several glass companies, although he says supply chain issues and the increase in people needing windows is causing delays for him.
“It had to be shipped from Kansas, it was the only one they could find, nobody has any,” Morris said of his front window.
He tried leaving his doors open for a few months to no avail and his son even tried to confront some of the burglars once.
“He hollered at them and they pulled a gun on him,” Morris said.
So far, Morris says there hasn’t been headway in any of the investigations involving his vehicles that he knows of.
Anyone with any information on any of these break-ins is asked to call NOPD detectives or leave an anonymous tip with Crimestoppers.
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