Cherokee County law enforcement officials have seen a spike in vehicle thefts over the last month.
“We’ve been getting three or four [car thefts] a week, and almost every one of them is a situation of opportunity,” Sheriff Derrick Palmer said. “A lot of people still have the mentality that we live in a small town, and that leaving their car running unattended for two or three minutes is not going to
matter.”
Officials say people are not only leaving their cars idling unattended, some are also leaving vehicles unlocked overnight, with keys under the floor mat or behind the overhead sun visor.
“If someone gets in your car, that’s the first place they’re going to check,” Palmer said. “People have had these habits for years and not realizing we’re in a different climate than we were 20 years ago.”
While some car thieves flee to Atlanta, Palmer said, many of the recent vehicle thefts were committed by people who remained local, rather than joyriding to Georgia or Tennessee.
“It’s people without means: homeless people, some drug people, but it’s more a homeless issue than a drug issue,” Palmer said of the culprits. “Homeless people walking, see a storm coming and don’t have anywhere to go. They see a car with keys in it and drive around until the storm blows over.
“Some stolen cars are not recovered for a long period of time, but those are very few. Most stolen vehicles are recovered locally.”
The Cherokee Scout’s delivery van was stolen from the local newspaper’s parking lot on a weekend night in June, then found totaled on a local roadside in July. No arrests have been made in the incident.
Officials advise all residents to:
- Never leave keys in an idling vehicle while patronizing a store or government facility.
- Lock vehicle doors while at home.
- Never leave a purse or weapon in a visible place within a car because it may prompt someone to break the window or open the door.