Summer time is no time to slack off when it comes to your personal safety. With more people out and about during the summer months, police say July is usually the highest month of the year seeing the most crimes.
CrimeTracker 10 dug through more than 20,000 crime reports and found theft topping the list of crimes in nearly a dozen cities, including Columbus, Hilliard, Upper Arlington, Grove City, and Groveport. Other cities reporting theft as their top crime include Reynoldsburg, Pickerington and Lancaster.
Legend:
Green - Top three crimes for Columbus Police precincts (Find your precinct)
Red - Top three crimes for other cities
We analyzed reports from the city of Columbus during the 2014 summer months of June, July and August.
Nearly 6000 people reported something stolen from them: Cameras, televisions, cell phones, credit cards, even tablets.
The highest percentage of thefts was reported on the west side of Columbus, in neighborhoods like the Hilltop, Franklinton, and Lincoln Village.
Crimetracker 10 also found dozens of open garage doors in Dublin, which police say contribute to the city's theft issue.
"If you're mowing your lawn and you leave your garage open, we've taken many reports where people have been victimized in those situations," says Chief von Eckartsberg.
He adds, "if they're in your garage, most times they can get into your home."
The Chief also says car break-ins are starting to make a comeback in Dublin, after a few years of slowing down. Dublin police took in 32 calls during a 2 week period of thefts from vehicles or vandalism related to criminals trying to break into cars.
"Almost every report that we take where there is something taken out of a car is because an item was left in plain view," says Chief von Eckartsberg.
"Today, I was just tired, and just decided I'm only here for 2 hours," Loy Ayers explained to CrimeTracker 10's Angela An about why she left her car window down with valuables in her car. "I believed it's a good area so I figured I'd be safe?"
CrimeTracker 10 also uncovered a few other crimes spiking, depending on the suburb where you live.
Shoplifting spiked in Reynoldsburg and Grove City. Capt. Jeff Pearson with Grove City police say their high numbers could be attributed to the increased efforts of a retail task force created last year to combat shoplifters.
A sampling of the top three crimes in other cities, include Worthington, which saw a steady number of drunk driving arrests. Gahanna noted curfew issues while Pickerington saw an uptick in drug and alcohol violations.
But law enforcement throughout central Ohio says the bottom line; everyone needs to do their part if they want to keep their homes safe.
"Don't leave things in your car, close your garage doors, lock your doors and windows to your house and turn your alarm system on," advices Chief von Eckartsberg.
"Bad things happen anywhere," says Ayers. "Doesn’t matter if it's a good neighborhood, bad neighborhood, it's just not worth the risk."
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