NORTH RIVER - More than $1,000 worth of electronics, clothes, cash and other items were stolen from vehicles this weekend.
Colchester County RCMP Sgt. Al Affleck said 11 of 14 vehicles entered were on the West North River Road. The other three were from Highway 236 in the Old Barns area.
Police started getting reports of vehicles being entered at 4:20 a.m. on Saturday and they continued throughout the day as people checked their vehicles.
"Some of the people on the West North River road saw some suspicious activity and chased some people and we had the dog out to track them, but we had no luck," Affleck said.
Items taken included expensive clothing, a satellite radio, a wallet, $100 in cash, coins, CDs, tools and an Internet media player valued at $750.
Police have been reminding people throughout the summer of the importance of removing their valuables from their vehicles. Affleck said it is similar to thieves targeting people with gifts in their vehicles at Christmas time.
"This crew that's going around, it's just inviting the opportunity" for theft, he said.
"They look in the cars at night with a flashlight, if they see nothing they might try to find your change" or move on to the next vehicle.
From May 1 to Aug. 15 the Mounties have had 109 reports of thefts from vehicles under $5,000, representing about one a day. For the same period in 2009, the RCMP responded to 116 thefts from vehicles.
Most of the vehicles entered have been unlocked and Affleck suspects there have been more vehicles entered that have not been reported to police.
"If you see anyone suspicious in your neighbourhood ... please try to observe what they're driving and call the police immediately," he said.
"We're doing every effort to find these culprits but they're out there at nighttime and they're sneaking from neighbourhood to neighbourhood."
Anyone with information about the weekend thefts is asked to contact Colchester RCMP at 893-6820 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
jmalloy@trurodaily.com
