CLEVELAND — Window after window after window was shattered on cars parked along several Cleveland streets early Wednesday morning. The break-ins are part of a trend that's increasingly frustrating for neighbors and police.
“I was supposed to be on my way to work. We’ll see if I go in,” said Maggie Young.
Young's morning routine was disrupted when she came out of her W 93rd St. apartment building to find the glass from her driver-side window inside her car and littering the street.
“The maintenance guy was actually out here sweeping up the glass for me before I got out here. He let me know that they hit every single car on this block and around the corner,” she said.
About 20 car windows were smashed overnight on Cleveland's West Side, according to police.
In addition to West 93rd Street, the break-ins also happened on Tillman Avenue and West 29th Street. None of the victims who spoke to News 5 reported anything stolen from their vehicles.
“For me, it’s like, ‘Here we go again.’ You know what I mean? It comes with the territory of living in the city. But it’s unfortunate for some people because it can be a pain to go get them fixed,” said Adam Koballa.
The Tillman Avenue neighbor said his car was spared in this latest rash of break-ins, but he wasn't so lucky last fall.
“I actually put a note on my car before that said, ‘There’s nothing in this vehicle.’ And they still broke the window,” he said.
Both Koballa and Young said it's a frustrating trend for them and their neighbors.
“I’ve kind of learned by now not to keep anything in there because it’s a pattern, it happens and it doesn’t seem to be stopping,” Young said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cleveland Police Chief Annie Todd held a press conference, saying they have seen an increase in car break-ins over the past month.
Watch the press conference:
Todd said that the department has mostly seen young people breaking into the vehicles.
"What we're finding from video that we've seen is groups of young people that are driving around, sometimes, or a lot of times, in stolen vehicles, and they're going through these neighborhoods, and they're just breaking car windows, and then they lean into the cars there. It takes a matter of seconds," Todd said during Wednesday's press conference.
Todd said that in many of these break-ins, nothing is stolen from the vehicles.
"Our residents are coming out, and they're impacted," Todd said. "It's cold outside now. You have a broken window on your vehicle. You can't go where you need to go, and it's just unacceptable."
These break-ins come just days after Cleveland Police launched a new initiative to reduce car break-ins.
STANCE, or Street and Nuisance Crime Enforcement, is a new police detail that will work the evenings in hot spots for car break-ins.
RELATED: Cleveland police launch new police detail to focus on car break-ins
The department's STANCE initiative has led to almost 30 arrests related to car break-ins over the past few months, but Todd said they are still making adjustments to the unit.
"I want the community to be aware that we are continuing to change our methods as we see changes and what's happening," Todd said.
She also said she needs help from residents in keeping a watchful eye and checking their security footage if something happens in their neighborhood.
"Additional footage could be helpful for what we're doing," Todd said. "We want to make sure that everybody is a part of this, and people are talking to each other, but they're also letting us know what they're saying."
Todd said the division of police is working with the prosecutor's office to hold the criminals accountable. Additionally, they're hoping to pursue ways to hold parents of juvenile criminals accountable.
While the trend continues, some neighbors said they feel resigned to accept it as a part of life in the city.
“I don’t really know what could stop it, either. It’s just an inconvenience,” said Young.
