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North Plainfield Police Department

Press Release

Chief William Parenti

Press Release of July 2, 2014

North Plainfield Police Chief William Parenti announced that Borough Police Officers have made three arrests in the past day solving 10 different car burglaries throughout the borough. Unfortunately “as fast as we investigate these incidents and make arrests, it seems someone else will begin breaking into cars” Chief Parenti said.

We want to assure our residents of our effort to combat car burglaries.  The North Plainfield Patrol Division has stepped up patrols to include the use of unmarked vehicles, and plain clothed detectives.   In addition, Our Detectives are conducting following up investigation on each incident. 

Don’t become a victim of “Cherry picking”  Cherry-Picking is the practice of miscreants walking through randomly chosen neighborhoods and checking vehicles in order to identify those that are left unlocked. Once a thief locates an unlocked car he or she will enter the vehicle and remove any items of value.  However, if an item of value is observed the thief will break the window to seal the item.   

There are several things you can do to make your car a less attractive target.  The simplest is not to leave valuables in your car and always lock and secure it.  Most of the crimes reported the thief’s took laptop computers, jewelry, small electronic devices and purses or wallets with cash in them.  When parking your car in the warm weather of summer, don’t be tempted to leave the car windows down.  If the windows are down, the door locks are not helpful.

Chief Parenti said, the public is our best ally in fighting this type of crime.  Please call the police if you see any suspicious activity.