An Ontario woman discovered that four different people broke into her vehicle in the span of 36 hours after she placed a hidden camera on her dashboard.
Michelle Kaplan decided to set up the device in her vehicle after consistent break-ins left her hopeless at her London, Ontario, home.
‘For the entire time I’ve lived in my home, I’ve had difficulty with my vehicle being broken into,’ she explained to the CBC.
Michelle Kaplan decided to set up the device in her vehicle after consistent break-ins left her hopeless at her London, Ontario, home
She soon noticed that over the span of 36 hours, four strangers proceeded to break into her vehicle
‘We got a work truck this year and because there is an assumption of tools inside, I didn’t want the windows broken, of course leaving the doors unlocked still invited people to look for change etcetera, so we installed a camera looking to catch people in action.’
Kaplan shared that a sensor picks up motion and then turns on a light to start recording. Next the device alerts the user on their phone.
She posted the videos on Facebook on Monday, sharing that she hopes to ease some of the violating feelings she’s had in the area.
‘Unfortunately, the first three times I did not wake up to that notification,’ she said. ‘The fourth time I did and seeing his look of fear and getting out of there was kind of nice.’
Kaplan shared that a sensor picks up motion and then turns on a light to start recording. Next the device alerts the user on their phone
‘Unfortunately, the first three times I did not wake up to that notification,’ she said. ‘The fourth time I did and seeing his look of fear and getting out of there was kind of nice’
But Kaplan insists that the break-ins are emblematic of a much larger issue in the community.
‘It is not about shaming these individuals,’ she shared with DailyMail.com. ‘It is about the fact people are living a life where they feel this is the only way to get by and that the system needs to change.’
‘It is not about shaming these individuals,’ Kaplan shared with DailyMail.com. ‘It is about the fact people are living a life where they feel this is the only way to get by and that the system needs to change.’
She shared that many people have reached out to her to share their own run ins with burglaries.
Kaplan said: ‘Within all of those people are complaining on a regular basis, daily, double daily, triple daily about having things stolen from their properties, whether that be from their vehicles or backyards.’
Ward 6 Councilman Phil Squire found that ‘it’s pretty amazing to watch how brazen people are’ but felt that the issue was much larger than London as well.
‘Every area of the city is plagued by these kind of random thefts, and they’re thefts of opportunity,’ he added. ‘If you leave something not tied down—and even in some cases if you do—people will steal it.’
He asserts that it’s crucial for folks to alert authorities, even if it is believed that little will be done
‘The police have a limited number of resources and they allocate additional resources to areas suffering from crime, really on the basis of numbers,’ Squire said. ‘The challenge has been that these thefts are so prevalent that people sometimes don’t even report them. The problem with that is there’s no evidence to support allocating more resources.’
In most cases, those who wonder into vehicles are just looking for petty cash or things that can be sold quickly.