Thieves Target Flat-Screens In Oakhurst
Decatur Metro | May 20, 2008This has been a continuing problem in Oakhurst as of late. Based on numerous posts on the Oakhurst message board over the past couple months, thieves are smashing in the front door of homes with visible flat-screen TVs from the street, taking them and nothing else, and bolting. It all takes less than a minute, so they aren’t concerned with alarm systems. Additionally, other posts indicate that they aren’t deterred by dogs (regardless of size).
A recent post/email from by the Winnona Park neighborhood watch (forwarded by Cherie) sums flat-screen thieves’ actions and intent around Atlanta.
* Thieves working in a group of 3 young men are pictured kicking in a door, rushing into a home, finding the big screen TV, ignoring other valuables, and loading big screen into a truck that is backed up to the door, for quick exit.
* Remarkable is the speed at which the operation took place:
In only a minute or so did the burglars kick open the door, locate the high value Big Screen TV and load it. So even if the alarm was sounding and the monitoring company was calling the police or the residence first, by the time it was clear to the alarm company/resident,etc. that this was a genuine burglary, the bad guys escaped with the one quick item in the truck.
So, if you have a flat-screen, its probably a good idea to make sure it can’t be viewed through a front window.
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Here is the story (which contains the video link).
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6566577&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Thanks Greg!
They have also hit Candler Park…at least a remarkable similar crime in the last week.
Just thought you should know the hystarical conversation on the Oakhurst list-serve today. The pro-historic district people are trying to blame the crime problem in Oakhurst on infill development and “overdevelopment” represented by the Wachovia project!
Yeah, I actually saw it earlier this morning Bill, but wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to mention it.
As many people know, I’m generally pro-preservation, but this attempt to tie a very emotional and personal issue to a specific agenda is really unproductive and makes preservationists look bad.
Here’s the link for those that are interested.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OakhurstGA/messages?o=1
oakhurst isn’t so special. the flat screeen smash-n-grab is happening all over atlanta and has been for months.