TOLEDO, Ohio — While it's the season of giving, Toledo police said it's also the season of taking cars.
Komako Goolsby, the mother of a recent car theft victim, is speaking out to warn others. On Nov. 5 her daughter's 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander was stolen while she was out shopping.
"When my daughter called me, I thought that she was dying. She called me with a blood-curdling scream," said Goolsby. "'My car is gone. Somebody took my car. My car is stolen.'”
Goolsby, a first responder, was at work at the time but she stopped and immediately called the police to report the stolen vehicle. Then she told her daughter there was a second step that only she could do.
“The second step was retracing your steps," said Goolsby. "It's always important to not just assume the worst because the worst didn't happen in this case. Once she sat down for a few seconds she realized, 'Oh, I did leave my keys in my car. I wasn't paying attention.' So that did make it easy to be stolen."
TPD Lieutenant Paul Davis said people make it easy all the time, which is one of the reasons car thefts are one of the only Toledo crimes on the rise this year.
“Don't leave your vehicle running and unattended,” said Davis.
Davis said in August that the department changed how it records car thefts to include attempted thefts. The change is intended to help zero in on the locations that need the most resources.
With that in mind, this year Toledo has had 1382 vehicles stolen or attempted to be stolen.
“We are going to do everything we can to get these numbers back down. I just encourage people, if their car is stolen, call us immediately that way dispatch can broadcast the description of your vehicle," said Davis. The sooner we have that information, the sooner and more likely it will be that we can recover the vehicle.”
Goolsby said because these steps were followed, her daughter's car was found within 24 hours. Someone had just driven it until it ran out of gas.
“Toledo police called us and said 'Your car's in Detroit. It was found in the street just sitting on the side of the road,'” said Goolsby.
Toledo police said in more recent years, cars have been stolen for joy rides or by people looking to commit different crimes that won't be traced back to them.
Being alert in these situations can protect not just yourself but others.
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