There’s almost nothing more inconvenient than waking up to find your car has been broken into and vandalized.
Unfortunately for a group of South Burnaby residents, that’s what they found Monday morning.
Monica Adame is a resident on Hersham Avenue, where she said 10 vehicles were damaged sometime on Oct. 19, and the resident has grown tired of the crime on her street.
Adame said she’s lived on the street for five years, but in the last couple years the situation has gotten worse.
She’s had her car broken into twice in the last couple of years, including once while the vehicle was in her carport.
“Everybody on this street will tell you they’ve been broken into at least once,” she told the NOW, adding in the most recent vandalism, her car was left untouched.
Adding to Adame’s frustrations, she claims the police are doing little to help catch the perpetrator or prevent the crimes in the first place.
“They (Burnaby RCMP) did absolutely nothing about it. That makes me so angry,” she said. “There is a complete lack of interest.”
The Burnaby resident said she doesn’t expect police to patrol every street at all times, but she believes some RCMP presence overnight would help the situation.
In the most recent rash on Hersham, the windows of the cars were smashed, but it doesn’t appear that anything was taken.
Regardless, Adame said she and her neighbours don’t want the issue to be dismissed lightly.
In response, RCMP Cpl. Daniela Panesar noted there are often meetings in the detachment to review statistics to determine which areas are being hit by crime.
Though she couldn’t speak about the specific incidents on Hersham, she said the detachment will direct extra patrols where certain areas are being hit hard by crime.
Panesar also noted in some situations, the force will formulate a team to see what offenders will be active in the area.
“It definitely doesn’t go unnoticed, especially if there’s a rash of them (break-ins) in a specific area,” she said.
The RCMP are also offering a general reminder to residents not to leave any valuables in your vehicle or to keep them out of sight.
