By james art 
Baton Rouge, La. (Wafb) – Statistics just don’t lie. In the last six months, Baton Rouge has noted a 63% increase in stolen vehicles.
The Baton Rouge Police Department says it is fair to categorize this increase as a spike.
“After talking to the detectives on average, we get 80-100 vehicles reported stolen,” said L’Ean McKneely, a public information employee for BRPD. “So, to say that this was such an increase within the last six months, I would say that it is a spike.”
According to the BRPD Crime Analysis page, there have been 120 vehicle theft calls in the last six months.
Don Bergeron from Bergeron’s city market had to make four of these phone calls, including one earlier this week.
“It happened on Sunday night,” Bergeron says. “We just got in on Monday morning and the vehicle was gone.”
The thieves broke the company’s car window and a hot cable vehicle. At the moment, the van is still missing.
The last time it happened did not end well.
“The last one that they used to steal an ATM,” Bergeron said.
“They try to stay as discreet as possible by stealing other people’s objects,” McKelly stressed. “Crime and then discard those items they were in.”
Bergeron says the stolen vehicles affect more than the day of his company.
They also cost a lot to return, with hundreds of withdrawal fees and other storage costs.
“You have to go through any kind of turmoil to return it,” Bergeron said. “You have to pay withdrawal, you have to pay storage space. The latter had to go to the crime lab, which was drawn from one thing to another. In the end, it cost me $ 800 just to return the vehicle. “
McKneely says the department is trying to notify the victims as soon as possible, so the fees are not accumulated. But a document provided to us by Bergeron shows that it would not be on the spot to have to spend hundreds of dollars to get your car get back.
Bergeron keeps his cars scattered now, one of which is seen here behind a closed fence with access code. He tired of accumulating the money and paying for repair.
“I just think we will no longer be able to park our vehicles in the property,” Bergeron said. “I’ll have to park them elsewhere because you know I can’t repeat.”
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