First Car Theft for 2024, Same Story: Lock Your Vehicles
That did not take too long.
By approximately 1:30am on Tuesday, January 2nd the City of Rye had its first car theft of the year. But nothing is new – the car was left unlocked with the key fob in the car. The PD was worked hard to repeatedly tell residents you must remove your fob and property from a vehicle and keep it locked.
“It takes literally under 30 seconds to steal a car when they’re checking handles and they go in they do all they have to do is push the fob and they’re gone,” said Detective Commander Mike Anfuso at Rye PD.
The car, a Mazda CX30, was taken from a home at 7 Ann Lane off Forest Avenue. After some work from Rye PD the car was recovered in Hamden, CT later that morning around 9:00am. The work involved includes time from Rye PD, often work with the auto companies that have entire groups that help police track vehicles, and in this case the Hamden police.
Rye PD said 90% of the cases are underage kids, oftentimes in gangs and driving at high speeds, stealing cars to commit other crimes or for joy rides. The cars typically wind up in Northern Connecticut – Bridgeport up to Hartford – or in the Newark, New Jersey area.
