Car Burglaries On Rise In Norman (Tips To Stop Them!)

It's a rite of spring here in Norman: People go walking. Or jogging. Or running.

Regardless, folks get out and enjoy some warm spring weather. However, the Norman police department is offering some tips to make sure your car and what's in it doesn't fall victim to anybody with bad intentions.

Car burglaries are on the rise.

That encompasses not only burglars stealing things from people's automobiles, but also taking garage door openers from vehicles to gain entrance to garages (and anything accessible from there, ergo homes).

From Norman MPO Jennifer Newell:

"We have noticed many of the burglaries are occurring when cars are unlocked and people are leaving items such as laptop computers, I-Pods, checkbooks, wallets, etc. Many times, the suspects are going through neighborhoods trying car doors and if they are unlocked, they go through them to see what is worth taking. In some instances, they have taken the garage door opener, opened the garage and stolen items from there, as well. If they see something valuable and the door is locked, they simply break the window to get the items. Please do not leave valuables in your car."

Newell recommends neighbors watch out for neighbors. If you see that your neighbor has left his/her garage door open, give 'em a shout (or a phone call). And if you see somebody or a vehicle that seems suspicious, call police.

If I can relate a quick personal story, I heard a prowler (not necessarily a burglar) moping around my house some months ago. I called 911. It took less than one minute for a Norman officer to arrive. The officer literally drove by and scanned the area while I was on the phone with a dispatcher.

Why not start a neighborhood watch program on your block? It's easy as well. You can call MPO Jennifer Newell at 405-366-5267.

In an odd note, I did a Google search on preventing car burglaries, and did you know that an OUPD tip sheet came up first!? Read it here.

Other car burglary prevention links:

Tips from Mount Prospect, Ill.

Tips from a South Florida newspaper

And how about this from our neighbors in Mustang, Okla.: Read here

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OU Tight End Jermaine Gresham Arrested On Seat Belt Warrant

Not every arrest is, well, an "arrest."

Take OU tight end Jermaine Gresham who was taken into custody on Monday because of a warrant for failure to pay a Feb. 2 seat belt ticket. Two weeks and a day later, Norman police arrest him because he neither paid the citation nor did he set a court appearance.

Bad Jermaine.

I could be totally off my rocker, but I seem to recall having much longer to pay a ticket, upwards of a month before the warrants came out. It's been a long time since I've gotten a ticket, so I could be wrong.

However, in the scheme of athlete-police encounters, this is about as innocent as it gets.

Read more on NewsOK.com.

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As part of a continuous effort to revise what we're doing here on The Norman Files, we're going to start offering links each day to Norman-related stories, videos, sites, etc. Think of us as a blog and an aggregator.

So, some posts will be "just" posts and then one post per day will be the catch-all, with the big story of the day in Norman supplemented by links. I've seen other sites do this, and they're often the sites I come back to most often. Plus, this accounts for the fact that time is limited.

Besides, I do so much surfing each day, I highly doubt you'll find another site with a better variety of Norman-related links.

Links for April 15, 2009:

Corner Store on Porter robbed

Video report on robbery

Guestroom Records celebrates 'Record Store Day'

No. 9 Sooners Beat TCU (baseball)

Men's Gymnastics Seeks 9th Nat'l Title

Norman Regional Hospital among best employers

Recap of Norman council meeting

Child abuse prevention meeting

Soonerguys at Red-White Game

Nice Red-White recap from Palestra

Profile of talented local musician Dorian Small

and last but not least ...

French dude comments on Saturday night thunderstorm in Norman

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Obscene, Threatening Communication Reported At Sarkeys

Among the items of interest in the March 31 edition of the University of Oklahoma police report:

OUPD officers were dispatched to the Sarkeys Energy Center because of "obscene/threatening communication." No word as to the nature of the communication.

At 11:49 p.m., a theft was reported at Evans House (Honors housing), located at 1300 Asp Avenue. The report indicates the theft happened between 2:45 and 10 p.m. No word on what was taken.

Police reports are updated each day and posted **only** for that day on the OUPD Web site at http://www.ou.edu/oupd/media.pdf.

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One-Eared Pig Stolen From Norman Liquor Store

Sometimes it's prudent to note that I don't make this s*** up.

However, somebody stole the OU pig from on top of Campus Liquors, which is located at 800 W. Lindsey Street. Owner Aaron Petrone said it was probably taken awhile back but that he didn't notice it until recently.

On a very quick side note: The very same thing happened to me this weekend. I noticed somebody took one of my patio chairs, which I never use, from my sidewalk. Hope they enjoy it. Hell, keep it, or better yet, come steal the metal stand and companion chair, too.

But let's help Aaron find his liquor pig.

It's made of cement, so I'm guessing it didn't get too far. Uh, this liquor store is pretty close to fraternity row, if you get my drift. I'm not accusing. I'm just saying.

Oh, and it's missing an ear because the thief had to push it from the top of the store. Bastards.

If you see the one-eared liquor pig, I would bet Aaron might throw in a free bottle of scotch to the informant.

Source: Norman Transcript

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Explosive! Loaded Grenades Found At Norman Rent House

Crap. There are some days when you think you can't possibly get to it all, all the news happening in Norman, that is.

In a case of all's well that ends well, police took two grenades into custody after the owner of a rent house on E. Frank Street spotted them under the house. The guy was cleaning up the place for the next renter, when he spotted these military-issue devices.

According to police, whoever owned these grenades took steps to turn them into ready-made explosive devices, lethal enough potentially to do as much damage as a pipe bomb. Given that there were two of them ...

Alas, our fair landlord takes these puppies and tosses them in the back of his pickup and DRIVES them to the police station. In a potentially Darwin Award-worthy performance, the landlord walks into the police station and informs those who protect and serve that there are a couple of grenades outside.

Talk about a "how-do-you-do."

Long story short, the Norman bomb squad was called out, and they secured the devices and returned to the rent house to look for more. That renter was forthcoming, allowing officers to look inside his new house on East Eufaula Street. Police are pretty sure this guy (or gal, I suppose) had nothing to do with anything.

However, it does make me wonder just how wise it is that grenades, even "training grenades," are available commercially. Sorry, and forgive me if I'm not up to speed on the latest sportsman techniques, but are grenades now used for hunting?

I'm being facetious.

But I ask you, what might your landlord find under your house?

Links:

Norman Transcript

NewsOK.com

*** If you like the daily news, commentary and perspective from the greatest college town in America -- Norman, Okla., -- why not subscribe to my posts at the top of the home page. That way, the news from Norman, Okla., can come right to you!

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Weekend Scanner Report

It was a pretty boring weekend on the scanner front here in Norman on Friday and Saturday, but it got interesting Sunday night. Some of the highlights include:

Police investigated an ex-University of Oklahoma employee who was spotted inside an OU building late Sunday night making a rather large amount of copies. An ex-professor? Nope. A power plant employee, according to scanner traffic.

Authorities said they would investigate further but noted that making those copies on university property without having any business there technically constituted theft. Do you think he was photocopying his resume?

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At the same time, a 31-year-old called in a medical emergency from the Physical Sciences building, saying that he had abdominal pains. The call came in at 10:30 p.m., making me wonder what in the heck he was doing there that late on a Sunday. Perhaps he's a prof, and the thought of another school year already has him in distress.

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Moments later -- and this is all on Sunday night -- marijuana smoke from the parking lot of a Norman apartment complex was reported. OK, this likely happens often in Norman. This is a college town, mind you. However, the kicker here is that the 911 caller reported that the "security guard at the complex was partying" with whoever was in the parking lot at this complex.

Good times.

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Earlier this weekend, from the Blog Party porch, we heard an odd call for police to come investigate an odor. At first, we chuckled thinking some hygenic student had finally had enough of his engineering roommate. Alas, this call was to report the odor of gasoline, which can often indicate a meth lab.

No word as to what happened here. We either didn't hear or just got disinterested.

Periodically, I'll note things I hear on the scanner, stuff that will never make the paper but that is still available for the public record. My standard caveat is this, however: At no time would I post anything I hear on the scanner that could endanger anybody physically, period, particularly police or emergency workers. Anyway, I'm a pro at this, been doin' it awhile.

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