Suburban Plaza

This story has been updated. 

A reader has alerted Decaturish to a recent rash of vehicle break-ins at the Suburban Plaza development in greater Decatur.

“I was just up at LA Fitness and at least two vehicles had their windows smashed Saturday around noon,” the reader said in an email on Jan. 30. “I spoke to one man who’s truck driver’s side window was smashed but nothing of value was taken. He told me a woman had her car window smashed and her check book was stolen from the car. I understand this is a the least the second time it has happened. I heard it happened last weekend also.”

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Maj. Stephen Fore with the DeKalb County Police Department said there were 11 vehicle break-ins at Suburban Plaza in January.

“Right now detectives have little information to go on,” Fore said. “There are not any security cameras at the location and no one has gotten a good description of any suspects. Detectives do not believe all these thefts are attributed to one person or group. They have found that gyms in general are a target for car break-ins because suspects know when people go to the gym they leave most of their belongings in their vehicle.”

Fore added, “Detectives are sharing information with neighboring jurisdictions to try and develop any suspect information because often times these suspects commit these crimes throughout an area. The investigation is ongoing.”

He did offer tips to help people avoid becoming victims of a vehicle break-in.

“Some tips for your readers would be for them not to leave valuables in their vehicle,” Fore said. “[In] several of these break-ins nothing was taken, but the vehicle was broke into with the belief items [would’ve] been left in the vehicle.”

He also recommends parking as close to a business as possible where foot traffic is higher in order to increase your vehicle’s visibility or parking it in front of large windows, if a business has them.

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