By Chelsea Laskowski

Area residents react to string of East Hill car break ins

Oct 28, 2013 | 5:11 PM

There were a string of car break-ins between 200 and 500-block 25th Street East on the weekend, and now the residents’ opinions are split on the level of vandalism in the area.

Some don’t feel car vandalism is a commonplace issue.

“So far, so good. We’ve been lucky. I haven’t gotten broken into. They broke into a house here, but that was about, oh, 20 years ago… No, it’s been pretty good here,” said Morris Bodnarchuk, who lives near St. Joseph’s Church.

Further along down the street, Carole Keays has lived in her home for more than 40 years and described the neighbourhood as safe.

She said she was aware of one smashed vehicle window during that time, “but other than that I can’t say that we’ve had any crime much around here, or vehicles and that. Touch wood, hopefully it stays that way.”

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However, Kelsey Bighead's car was broken into this weekend and she disagreed. No one pulled the car handles, which kept the alarm from going off. Whoever broke her window then rifled through her purse and took a few small items, but left behind several of her identification cards and a North Face jacket.

This is the third time strangers have broken into one of her cars.

A few years ago, someone ripped off a driver’s side mirror and a windshield wiper. On another occasion, someone smashed one of her windows and stole a few small items.

“It happens quite a bit,” said Bighead. “It doesn’t matter where you park, they’re still gonna. They just go into your yard, if you don’t have a fence or a garage.”

Bighead found out about the most recent car vandalism when police knocked on her door at around 9 a.m. on the weekend.

She suspects it happened around 5 a.m. because her neighbours heard a sound outside and saw a man laying by their fence. One of them chased the man away.

When asked why this seems to happen so often, Bighead joked that her vehicles seem to attract vandalism. While unsure of the cause, she said the amount of foot traffic in the area may have something to do with it.

Bighead said luckily she has a package policy to fix her broken window, but it's still money out of her pocket.

She doesn’t expect to end up getting reimbursed, since the people who did it in the past weren’t found.

Bighead admitted that her purse was left in her vehicle the night her car was broken into, but added that isn’t typical behaviour.

This and the other three vehicles broken into on the weekend have the Prince Albert Police Service warning people to not make the same mistake.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk