Herb Sharp peered into a parked car on Eld Street to check out a purple bag on the front seat. Then he tried the door.
Sharp wasn’t looking to commit a burglary. He was trying to prevent one.
Lt. Sharp, the top cop for Newhallville and East Rock, is trying to get in front of a rash of burglaries by beating the burglars to the punch.
“There is a potential that someone could break in and steal that,” Sharps said of the purple bag on the front seat of the locked car. “I don’t know what that is, or if it’s valuable. The bad guy is not unzipping that bag. He breaks the window and he leaves. That’s another call.”
In the last week, his officers have responded to a number of car break-ins. Seven out of the eight recorded car break-ins for the district were in East Rock alone. Sharp is hoping that a new initiative that his walking beats will start carrying out this week will help drive down the number of car break-ins — at least by thieves.
Sharp calls in a registration check on a car parked on Eld Street.
Sharp has instructed his officers to take your visible valuables from your car before the bad guys do, making use of a search warrant exception that allows them to do it.
His officers aren’t going to break into your locked car if they see that you’ve left your cell phone, handbag, or backpack in your locked car. In that case, they’ll just run your plates to see if you live in the area. If you do, they’ll knock on your door and let you know that you left your valuables visible in your car. They will suggest to you that you come put them in the trunk, or take them inside, so as not to tempt thieves.
The note an officer will leave if your belongings are confiscated.
But if your door happens to be unlocked, and they can’t get you, they will confiscate your stuff, enter it into property at police headquarters and leave you a note (similar to this one pictured) to come down to 1 Union Ave. to pick it up.
Sharp said the search warrant exception that he’s using is known as the “caretaker” exception. The exception allows an officer who sees something of value — in plain view and at risk for being stolen — to confiscate that property for safekeeping.
It’s an extreme step, but Sharp said he wanted to give it a try especially with the holidays coming. He said car break-ins usually go up during this time of the year. He also said it is one of the last tools he has left to encourage people to change their behavior and prevent a crime of opportunity.
“Holidays are notorious for car break-ins, burglaries and robberies,” he said. “They all rise for the holidays. It is my belief that if you handle the smaller issues, you can lower the risk of higher, more dangerous crimes. Remember, just because they break in cars, doesn’t mean they’re incapable of committing a burglary or a robbery.
“Car break-ins are a stepping stone to committing more dangerous crimes, so you have to address those small crimes. The people of East Rock shouldn’t have to live with car break-ins, just like in Newhallville, nobody should have to live with gunfire.”
East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes had a mixed reaction to Sharp’s experiment.
“I am glad that Lt. Sharp is thinking out of the box in trying to get ahead of the car break-ins, but I am not convinced that a plan in which police take residents’ belongings out of their cars is going to be a net gain for the neighborhood,” Holmes said. “The idea needs more research and communication with the neighborhood before it would be ready to implement; we have to balance our concerns for safety with the right of residents to have privacy and liberty.”
Mayor Toni Harp Monday said she likes the idea of trying out this experiment in one district to see if it works. She called Sharp’s idea “an innovative way to address a problem.”
Looking at his district map, Sharp pointed out what appeared to be a pattern of car break-ins in East Rock. He said it looks like one person had just walked through the neighborhood, looking into car windows, popping them out, and snatching whatever valuables they could see.
Sharp and his officers often paper cars with information about how to avoid car break-ins, but mostly to no avail.
He said when he first became a lieutenant he asked the city if he could put up signs reminding people to either remove their valuables or secure them in the trunk. He was told that the signs might raise the perception of crime in the neighborhood and possibly bring down property values. So he came back with the caretaker search warrant exception.
While they’re walking their beats during the day and evening shifts, officers in the East Rock neighborhood will peer into cars, looking for valuables, and checking to make sure doors are locked. Taking valuables down to police headquarters is mostly a last step in this experimental process of preventing car break-ins.
If your belongings do end up in police hands, you will have 60 days to claim them. And Sharp said he is working with the police property room to help connect people with their things if they are confiscated.
“They understand what we’re doing,” he said of the property room’s staff. “They will put a rush on helping people, and they’ll get their stuff back in a timely manner.”
Sharp pitched his plan to the East Rock Community Management Team last week, where he said he received a mostly positive reaction. He argued that a little inconvenience now, will avoid the bigger inconvenience of an actual crime.
But if you don’t come get your belongings, they will become the property of NHPD.
“But I think people will come and get their stuff,” Sharp said. “They call us when their car gets broken into; and there’s no getting their stuff back once it’s stolen because those items can be sold quickly on the black market, online, illegally through bodegas doing illegal things. If we have, you’ll get it back. It is very highly unlikely you will get this stuff back if it is stolen.”