Grosse Pointe Woods Warm-Up Theft Warning

With the first significant frost on car windows early Thursday came the season's first warm-up vehicle thefts. 

The theft of two cars left unattended and running in two Oxford Road driveways about 8 a.m. Thursday spurred police to remind residents to stay with their vehicles while warming them up.

Every year, Woods Public Safety Director Andrew Pazuchowski said, thieves target vehicles being warmed up in the mornings as residents prepare to leave their homes for work or school. 

The stolen vehicles were parked in their driveways, unlocked, running with the keys in the ignitions and unattended, Pazuchowski said. 

A babysitter working in the area spotted two men exit an "old, beat-up red car," in the 1900 block of Oxford and each get into one of the cars, Pazchowski said. Both drove west away from the homes.

The babysitter did not have any more of a description of the red car that was clearly being used to scout the area, he said, but the circumstances of the crime suggest the group was working the area by doing surveillance. 

Pazuchowski said he sent a community alert Thursday because he wants to remind residents that . Residents, he said, need to stay close to their vehicle and avoid leaving it unattended to prevent such thefts. 

Officers do patrol the neighborhoods in the early morning intentionally to try to prevent these thefts, he said, but residents also need to be proactive. Residents who see anything suspicious are encouraged to call police, he said. If there is any inkling of something suspicious, officers would rather check it out and find nothing than end up responding to a crime that already has been committed. 

His alert, he said, applies to everyone in all of the Grosse Pointes. Historically, the area has seemed to be a target because of the perception of finding newer, nice cars, Pazuchowski and other Grosse Pointe Public Safety Department Directors have told Patch. 

Last year, . Officers found the men and their stories did not match up. Even though they were not able to arrest all of them, they were able to interrupt their plans and disperse them from the area. 

The vehicles stolen Thursday were a 2007 red Pontiac G6 and a 2003 silver Oldsmobile. A complete description of the men who stole the cars was not available. 

While it's tempting to start the car and run back inside, it's not recommended, Pazuchowski said, giving an account from last winter when a resident was standing in his living room and heard his car being driven out of the driveway.