Police in Moncton are warning residents about a growing pattern of theft emerging as Christmas approaches.
Moncton’s Jake Banks said his Christmas light projector was stolen from the front yard of his home this week. He said the discovery was disheartening especially given that he has put his decorations out early as a pick-me-up amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“It was for our happiness but mostly for others too because it has been kind of rough times over the past couple of weeks,” he said.
Banks said that he did not report the theft to the RCMP, but he did post the loss to social media and said he heard from many people who have had similar experiences.
“I thought it was kind of heartless of someone to steal Christmas decorations.”
Staff Sgt. Patricia Levesque with the Codiac Regional RCMP said that police are investigating one report of Christmas decorations that were stolen from a Moncton home but said that some cases may be going unreported.
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She is encouraging residents to report any property theft, even a single set of lights, so that police can track potential “hot spots” in the city.
“If we know there have been 15 residences that have lost a light, lost a little snowman or lost anything then at lease we know that something is happening in that neighbourhood,” she said.
RCMP are also asking people not to leave shopping packages in their vehicles as they investigate 55 cases of smash and grab thefts from vehicles across the city that have been reported since Oct. 1.
“It’s been at the hotels. It has been happening at the shopping centres, it has been at several apartment buildings,” said Levesque, who added thefts of packages from vehicles are happening in locations across the city and are more brazen than in past years.
“The perpetrators are no longer just checking doors as they have in the past they are now smashing windows to gain entry to the vehicles and are stealing whatever packages are in the vehicles.”
People should not be leaving any packages in their vehicles unattended, she said.
“You really need to start removing visible packages from your vehicles,” she said adding that simply locking the doors is not a proper deterrent.