The citizens of Southgate were recently warned to stop leaving their car doors unlocked.
Chief of Police John Christmann spoke about the issue during February’s Southgate city council meeting.
“People who have been here have heard me talk about locking your vehicles,” he said. “I’ve been here almost, what, 11 years? I can’t remember one time where a vehicle was actually broken into. Every time we’ve had a car broken into, the vehicle was unlocked.”
Christmann explained last week a 17-year-old from Boone County found a key fob in an unlocked vehicle and stole it. He struck nine vehicles on West Walnut.
“Luckily, we were able to find him and he was arrested. One of our unlucky council members had two of his hit.” That “unlucky” councilman was Mark Messmer.
“Lock your vehicle,” Christmann said. “I know he would not have stolen that vehicle if that key fob wasn’t inside.”
Besides locking their doors, Christmann encouraged residents to use the community information service Nixle. Anyone can sign up for text and email alerts. Unlike Next Door, the police department uses the service to alert citizens on things like snow emergencies, road closures, and local events. People can download Everbridge, the app for the Nixle service, to their phone.
“People put false information on Next Door, but this is coming directly from the city,” he said.