By: Sheriff Carmine Marceno
Using the Lee County Sheriff’s Office social media platforms, speaking at numerous community gatherings and asking the media to share the message regarding locking your vehicles and securing valuables has somewhat reduced the number of vehicular burglaries in our county.
Still, each morning the calls for service regarding car and truck burglaries and thefts are received by our agency.
Despite the aforementioned pleas, which the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has been issuing for years, the vast majority of reports that we receive involve unlocked vehicles. In some cases, vehicle fobs are left inside of these unlocked vehicles and result in the theft of the car or truck.
On occasion, reports are filed regarding stolen firearms that were left inside of the unlocked vehicle.
This is of enormous concern to me and it should be to you, as well. Stolen firearms pose an immense threat to everyone in the community…everyone.
At the very least, your unlocked vehicle will result in a sense of violation as you wake the following morning to find your glove box and center console torn open and your belongings strewn about your vehicle’s interior and/or your driveway.
The very worst, should a firearm be removed from your vehicle, is that the stolen weapon is used to commit a violent crime, injure an innocent victim or result in the loss of life.
As we begin this new year, I am once again imploring Lee County residents and guests to remove all valuables from their vehicles, each and every evening, and to lock all vehicle doors.
