Auto glass repair shops are seeing an unusual number of customers this week, following a spate of vandalism that has had local communities worried. According to the police, several cars were vandalised by unknown persons with BB guns and their driver’s side windows broken.
The incident has sparked a lot of concern in the locals, who worry about leaving their cars unattended on the street. While those who parked their cars in car parks and garages seem to have been largely unaffected, those without their own driveways and parking spaces have to take their chances, and have thus been the ones most affected by the vandalism spree.
Police report that the cars—over 20, all told—were found distributed all around the neighbourhood, which points to a higher likelihood of witnesses. There is still a problem here, of course: witnesses are hard to come by even in cases like this, as most people are afraid of being targeted by the suspects afterwards. Even reportage of vandalised cars is not 100%. According to the authorities, they expect that there are far more than 20 cars that have taken damage from the vandals, and that the rest most likely did not bother reporting the damage to their vehicles. A small margin is allowed, of course, for those who might not have noticed the damage yet. Police say they expect more of these to be coming in to deliver their reports in the next week, however.
Vandalism of car windows has long been a problem in many neighborhoods, and it has been noted before that vandalism of this sort tends to happen in outbreaks. The recent vandalisms in Rochester, for instance, all happened in a single week. While people are unfortunately quick to guess that it might a group of delinquent youngsters running amuck with a BB gun, authorities say this is not necessarily the case. This sort of typecasting ahead of time could not only be obfuscating to the proper investigation of the problem but also unjust and undeserved.
Most of the victims have already taken their cars to the nearest auto glass repair shops but are still quite perturbed about the incidents. In this economy, after all, every little expense matters: even petty vandalism like this can do its share of damage to a person or household, as time has to be taken to bring the car in for an auto glass repair and money spent on it, instead of being spent on other, more profitable activities. Police are still looking for more leads that could help them stop the vandals and protect citizens from these petty crimes, and are encouraging locals to contact them if they have any useful information. For a Beverly Hills Criminal Attorney
