Unattended Property Theft is Up in the 78th Precinct

In Park Slope, it may be safe to let your kids out of sight, but not your laptop.

While compared to last year crime in the 78th Precinct is down overall, grand larcenies have risen. In fact, last month unattended property theft accounted for a whopping 25 percent of all index crimes in the 78th Precinct.

"Grand larceny is the only thing that is up," said Deputy Inspector John A. Argenziano. "We are trying to educate the public—don't leave your property laying around."

So far this year Argenziano said there have been about 350 grand larceny cases, many of which have been unattended property.

Argenziano suggests that, for instance, if you're working with you laptop from a coffee shop, when you go up to the counter for a refill its important to pack up all your stuff and bring it with you. It might be a slight inconvenience, but it just might prevent a crime.

The precinct also suggests not leaving valuables in your car for three or four days at a time. Things like leaving a GPS mount on the dashboard might lead a thief to believe that the GPS may be in the glove box, or elsewhere in the vehicle.

Generally speaking, it is a good idea to not leave valuables unattended in public for any amount of time—be it at a bar, coffee shop, or even your front stoop.

"The main problem this precinct has is people leaving their property unattended," said Argenziano.