Large number of burglaries require no forced entry

Centralia police are warning people to lock their doors.

Five cars were broken into Wednesday morning but all were left unlocked, according to a Centralia police Facebook post.

Data from the Uniform Crime Report — statistics gathered by local agencies and submitted to the state — shows this is a common occurrence.

Boone County had 662 burglaries in 2018. Of those, 365 did not require a forced entry, representing about 55 percent of all burglaries in the county.

Percentages for the three previous years were lower than 2018, but all ranged around 45 percent.Columbia resident Mike Nichols said in a Facebook post solicited by ABC 17 News that his truck was nearly stolen after he left his keys in the ignition.

“Mine had keys in the ignition in the garage,” Nichols said in the post. “The thief loaded the truck up with stuff from the house and I interrupted him.”

Of the 247 burglaries in Callaway County, 71 of them required no force, or about 29 percent.

Cole County reports were similar to Boone County, with 191 total burglaries and 96 requiring no force of entry. That is about 50 percent.

“In the last 10 years it’s been a battery out of a truck, a battery sitting beside our garage door, a leaf blower that got left beside a vehicle in the driveway, and just recently a bike off the front porch that had been mailed to my house,” another Columbia resident said in a Facebook post.

Wendy Remus has been living in Columbia for 31 years and said she believes the problem has gotten worse.

“My son’s truck has been rifled through and things taken out of it on occasion since he’s been driving the last two years,” she said.

Remus said her neighbors have had similar issues.