KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An uptick in car break-ins last weekend has residents of the West Plaza neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri feeling uneasy.
"There was an uptick over the weekend but I think we have been noticing some of these crimes happening as early as the week before," West Plaza Neighborhood Association president Josh Wing-Moreno said.
Wing-Moreno says the recent uptick has caught residents off-guard.
"This level of crime, no in the two years I have been here," Wing-Moreno said of the recent increase.
Person after person took to the their neighborhood watch group on Facebook detailing items that suddenly went missing from their cars and porches. One woman had her porch decorations stolen Monday night.
"KCPD told us there was a string of auto thefts and thefts from cars that maybe connected," Wing-Moreno said. "We are also aware of an A/C unit that went missing and that someone's porch decorations went missing."
It doesn't help that many cars along West Plaza streets are left unlocked.
"Given the severity of what happened, we knew we had to respond quickly," Wing-Moreno said. "We immediately called KCPD to figure out what was going on and what we could do to help."
He has a piece of advice.
"We urge and recommend to all of our neighbors to make sure that their cars are locked," he said. "That we are not leaving our keys in the car, and we are not leaving our valuables or anything that might look valuable out."
He added it doesn't hurt to get to know your neighbors.
"What we need is for our neighbors to help each other and provide any kind of information that they might have," Wing-Moreno said.
The neighborhood group will meet on Sept. 17 to discuss any additional steps.
