COLUMBUS, Ohio — Data from Columbus police show property crimes in Columbus are up 3% over last year, bringing the total so far to nearly 20,000 so far this year.
These are crimes involving burglaries, car thefts, stolen bikes and lawnmower the list goes on.
The commander of the city’s property crime unit says the best way detectives can solve these crimes is when people report them with detailed information.
For example, they can positively identify the suspect, or have surveillance video of the crime, or have a make, model and license plate of a car.
“For our citizens, we understand their frustration. We want to do everything we can for every single one, but we have to focus on where the most evidence is and solve those crimes that have the most solvability,” says Deputy Chief Tim Becker of the Columbus Division of Police.
Ange Emerson said her son’s car was broken into in March off of South High Street in Columbus. His tools, computer and winter coat were stolen.
Police say Emerson's son phoned in the report, but there was no information on potential witnesses or evidence.
“There were no potential witnesses listed, nor is there an indication any other evidence was available such as latent prints or surveillance footage. The report was inactivated due to no solvability,” said Commander Duane Mabry of the Property Crimes Bureau.
“It happened right underneath a camera,” says Emerson.
Emerson claims the crime happened underneath a camera, but police say that information was not mentioned in the police report.
Emerson points to a hit-skip crash that happened in the same month. Her husband was struck by a truck on South High Street and the driver fled the scene on South High Street.
“They did lose their front license plate for the truck so they knew who had done it from the get-go,” she said.
Police tell 10TV the license plate remains in the property room, but it’s unclear why police didn’t act to find the driver. “We failed that citizen,” said Commander Duane Mabry.
He said the police department's Accident Investigation Unit (AIU) makes fatal or serious injury crashes a priority. In the case of Emerson’s husband, it was a non-injury accident. Therefore, it doesn’t rise to a priority for police.
Police say of the thousands of police reports they take every day, they have to prioritize the ones they can solve first. The more evidence and details that are on the police report, the better chances police say they can find who did it.
Columbus police are encouraging people to continue filing police reports.
Becker says filing a report allows detectives to track crime trends. If they do arrest someone for a crime, the more crimes they can trace to the suspect the harsher the penalties.
“When we find the criminal is responsible for 50 crimes our case is going to be much stronger,” said Becker.