Last week we reported that the number of juvenile charges in Manitowoc spiked significantly in August.
15 such charges were reported by the Manitowoc Police Department, bringing the year-to-date total up to 134.
That is just shy of last year’s total count.
While on WOMT’s Be My Guest program, Manitowoc Police Chief Nick Reimer addressed the numbers, saying that numbers may not lie, but they don’t always tell the full story.
“What that means is we have more juvenile arrests. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we have more juvenile crime,” he explained. “It means we are out there solving crimes.”
Chief Reimer went on to explain what the majority of those charges are related to.
“We are seeing all over, not just on the north side or the south side or the town, both sides of the city, juveniles going through cars,” the Chief revealed. “If they find car keys in there, they are taking the vehicle.”
Plus, those keys tend to have house keys, and garage door openers are taken from inside the vehicle which as the Chief explained, means, “People have had to…unplug their garage door opener, maybe re-code it, redo their locks.”
Reimer then issued a reminder, which has been stated many times over.
“If you have a vehicle outside, lock it up. Do not keep the keys in there, do not keep guns in there, do not keep anything valuable in there,” Reimer said. “If you absolutely have to keep something in there, keep it out of view and lock the vehicle.”
He called these very simple steps that could save you hours of headache, and hundreds of dollars to rekey your house or garage.
Not only is it a good way to keep you and your belongings safe, but it will make life easier on the police officers, who can focus on keeping the streets safe.
