CRIME ALERT: Salemtown & Germantown cars broken into

I am receiving messages from social media that say anywhere from 6 to 15 cars were broken into overnight in the North End. Damage includes broken windows. I have not been stat counting, but it seems to me that crime has recently spiked in our neighborhoods.


UPDATE: according to a crime alert that went out from Metro Police a week ago, perps of "a majority" of the car break-ins and thefts (which had been increasing in the area to that point) are a gang from outside Salemtown called "Rolling 40 Crips". That report stated that the suspected leader of the gang had been arrested for stealing an iPad and a shot gun from a car on Hume Street, but that he bonded out of jail. No confirmation from MNPD yet on whether the Rolling 40 Crips are suspected of last night's rash of car break-ins.

I want to add to the update that we learned a long time ago, when we lived in the Historic Edgefield neighborhood in East Nashville, to remove all valuables from our cars and not to leave our cars locked. We agree with the police that removing valuables is important. We disagree with them about locking our cars. Locks and car alarms are not going to stop anyone on the street who wants to rifle through our cars. We would rather not have to pay a lot of money to repair busted windows on top of the indignity of the rifling. Removing valuables is sufficient for us.


UPDATE: curious cruising behavior from Metro Police Saturday night, as they drove up and down my street slowly with blue lights flashing 4-5 times over a 45 min span after 10:00p. I have never seen that before, and I do not know what the purpose of it was. They were not doing it hours later. How effective can it be as a deterrent if they do not do so continuously? And do they assume that criminals cannot see their blue lights coming up the street from blocks away? Was it intended to give residents a temporary sense of security? Or did it occur because some residents have reached out to the news media about the crime problem?