ST CHARLES, Mo. — Law enforcement in St. Charles County and Wentzville solved multiple auto theft crimes in recent days.
On Wednesday, a Hyundai Sonata sat inside the garage at the Wentzville Police Department with the glass broken out and its ignition tampered with.
Sergeant Jacob Schmidt, public information officer with St. Charles County Police Department, told 5 On Your Side that on Monday the St. Charles County department venue had several vehicles stolen with suspects caught and vehicles recovered.
Tuesday night, the Wentzville Police Department had two vehicles stolen which were recovered, and suspects were also caught with the assistance of the O'Fallon Police Department.
Police credited the St. Charles County Regional Criminal Interdiction Task Force, formerly a single auto theft task force, for their success.
"We're finding that our officers are getting suspects out there that have serious felony warrants, or they have firearms, and they are not eligible to carry them," Schmidt said. "They are in stolen cars...they are making gun arrests...drug arrests...doing great work."
Schmidt added that the partnership among multiple agencies allowed for more resources.
“There's the air unit that gets involved...some departments have drones," he said. "We have flock systems that we're using. it's a huge force multiplier...it's putting an extra set of eyes out."
The goal for everyone involved is to get catch the car thieves and hold them accountable.
"We want people to know that if you come over here to commit a crime or attempt to commit a crime," Col. Barry Bayles, public information officer for the St. Charles County Police Department, said. "It's a high likely that we’re going to catch you and we're going to prosecute you."
"We're going put adequate bail on you to keep you in jail until the resolution of this," he said.
Officials urged residents to call in if they see something strange in their neighborhood.
More importantly, lock the car, the keys, and the property up to avoid giving thieves the opportunity.
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