ST. LOUIS — Following a series of car break-ins in Midtown, businesses, police and city officials are trying to come together to stop them.
The latest string of incidents happened just this past weekend.
Armory STL is really working on security outside on both of their parking lots where hundreds of people park their cars and they hope to have most of the new measures in place by Friday.
“It's certainly a citywide problem. But we're also aware that we see roughly 25,000 people a week. So, we have to do everything possible,” President of Brick and Beverage Group Jake Miller said.
St. Louis Police said at about 10:30 Saturday night eight cars were broken into in the Goodwill parking lot across from the Armory and just 20 minutes later another 12 cars were broken into down the road.
“A call came in from the Foundry that four subjects in ski masks with a dark SUV similar to the same description by the Armory, were breaking into cars inside the garage,” SLMPD Lt. Anthony Aubuchon said.
Miller said while it didn’t happen in their parking lot this time, incidents all over Midtown pushed them to up their security plan investing roughly $700,000 more than they anticipated to install extra lights. Also, they had to hire armed off-duty police officers to patrol, pay for fencing around both lots with one way in and out, and various cameras.
“We're deploying Vision parking technology and they’re cameras running 24/7. They will scan the license plate and take a picture of every car upon entry and exit,” Miller said.
Miller said ever since stepping up security they’ve seen the number of car break-ins go down and they want to make sure it stays that way but that means all of the area businesses collaborating.
Ward 17 Alderwoman Tina ‘Sweet-T’ Pihl said she's working on that.
“When we start looking at this together and seeing what our all our plans are and when we all are aware of what's happening, that will help in terms of making sure that we feel safer,” Pihl said.
Pihl said there will be a public safety meeting for Midtown next Wednesday at 6:30 pm at Schlafly Library, which is located at 225 N Euclid Avenue in St. Louis.
Police said they believe most of the thieves are looking for guns and recommends people leave them at home if they’re going somewhere that doesn’t allow guns. They also advise people to make sure nothing is visible on the seats.
Miller said they are working on a program that benefits customers who use rideshare to get to the Armory instead of driving.
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