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Auto break-in wave hits Ashland Wednesday Apr 26, 2017 at 8:50 PM Apr 26, 2017 at 8:50 PM By Julie Akins For the Tidings More than 40 car break-ins have been reported in the last 20 days in Ashland and no one is exempt. In fact, even Ashland Chief of Police Tighe O’Meara posted a video of a person trying to break into his car at 4:30 in the morning on April 21. The would-be thief, who appears to be a young man wearing a white hoodie, checked the doors, found them locked and walked away. “The vast majority are just open doors,” says Deputy Chief Warren Hensman of the thefts. “A lot of times it’s just change taken. A lot people don’t even know what’s in their car.” The Ashland Police Department says the number of cars being broken into “is not normal for the Ashland area,” according to Hensman, but he also explains it’s not easy to solve the crimes because no evidence is normally left, the crime was committed hours before it is discovered and most car "break-ins" happen with unlocked cars. “It’s hard to put your finger on car break-ins and no evidence left behind, shy of someone catching them red-handed,” says Hensman. “We check with other jurisdictions who wind up stopping someone who has another person’s property or ID.” So far, APD says no other jurisdictions are reporting an uptick in car break-ins, but they are larger communities and may not be as focused on the problem. Still, the frustration for those caught in the car break-in wave are expressing frustration. “I’ve heard of several break-ins all over Ashland. This is really out of hand and something needs to be done,” exclaimed Heather McCann on a social media board, “Ashland Peeps.” Others on the board suggesting creating their own “sting” to catch the offender or offenders. Resident Shane Brady asks if anyone wants to help him. “Who is interested in staging a stakeout and engaging in a little citizens arrest? I’ll bring the coffee!” But Ashland police are already engaged in undercover work to catch whoever the people are persons are who are doing the break-ins. “We’re being proactive. We put some plain clothes officers out last night. It’s important the community knows we try to do everything we possibly can to thwart certain acts. It can be a needle in a haystack. We can use citizens to look out and report back to us,” says Hensman. At this point, police say, there’s no evidence it’s one person or a related group of people. The police suggest, instead of trying a vigilante approach, which can be dangerous, citizens consider using a surveillance camera as the chief did and sharing it with them. That way they can begin collecting evidence. He also urges reporting the crime every time so they can keep track. “A lot of people don’t report these crimes, there’s probably more than 40. We want you to call, it’s important to report it so we can link one with the other,” Hensman said. — Email Ashland freelance writer Julie Akins at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/@julieakins.