Mayor Robert J. Rothschild reminded residents at the Dec. 3rd meeting of the Garden City Board of Trustees to lock their automobile doors in their driveway and to not get “too casual.”

“It’s unfortunate that we have to do it, but I think it would be very helpful for everyone,” he said.

The Mayor said there have been a number of recent cases of criminals stealing possessions from unlocked cars in driveways. The Mayor said the perpetrator, or perpetrators, are not bothering cars with locked doors.

When contacted by The Garden City News after the meeting, Inspector Kenneth Jackson of the Garden City Police Department confirmed that there have been more than 100 larcenies reported from autos this year, 23 during November. The majority were for unlocked autos. There were also reports of approximately 45 incidents where someone entered an unlocked auto, went through the contents, but did not take anything.

Larcenies occurred throughout the Village, in residential driveways and in parking fields such as the one in Community Park. According to Inspector Jackson, this year more larcenies from autos are occurring in the east end of the Village, but all sections have been affected.

The main items being stolen are Global Positioning Systems, iPODs, telephones, computers, pocketbooks, credit cards and loose change. As of Dec. 8, nine individuals have been arrested this year for larceny from autos, including two during the evening of Dec. 7.