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One Brattleboro Facebook user posted this photo of a smashed car window with the caption: “For those who say ‘just keep your car locked!’ think again … $4,000 in damages!” Facebook photo

BRATTLEBORO — As this town with the most opioid overdoses in the state reports another record year, police are wrestling with a 225% spike in thefts from vehicles.



Local authorities received nearly 40 calls in the last quarter of 2019 about strangers rummaging through or removing items from cars and trucks, with the continuing rise of larcenies in the first month of 2020 fueling a rash of social media complaints.



“For those who say ‘just keep your car locked!’ think again,” one Facebook user recently posted beside a photo of a smashed car window. “$4,000 in damages!”



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Brattleboro, the first exit off Interstate 91 and the nearest Vermont community to the New England drug-route hubs of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut, has seen opioid overdoses skyrocket from 20 in 2010 to more than 100 (with 10 resulting deaths) this past year, according to numbers set to be released in the annual municipal report.



The town, population 12,046, has gone so far as to debate suing local independent pharmacies in hopes of recovering money spent on related police and public safety issues. The sudden increase in vehicle larcenies — from 12 in the last quarter of 2018 to 39 in the same period in 2019 — has reignited local debate about the persistent opioid problem.



“Policeman said, as you might figure, the goal is visible change or bills to pay for drugs,” wrote a Facebook user after reporting a car break-in.



Others are missing credit cards that, in one case, was used to pay for an unknown $620 purchase.



Compounding the challenge for police is the fact state statutes don’t prohibit anyone from entering a vehicle without permission.



“That means that technically, if someone walks into your driveway, enters your car, rummages through it, but does not damage anything and does not steal anything, there is no law in Vermont under which that person could be charged with a crime,” Brattleboro Police Capt. Mark Carignan said in a statement.



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Police believe the number of thefts from vehicles is higher than what’s reported because many people don’t realize something’s missing or figure the loss of spare change, CDs or sunglasses isn’t a priority.



But authorities, seeing the issue spill into social media, are concerned people with home surveillance cameras are attempting to circumvent the judicial process.



“Posting pictures of people you believe are the suspects is not only irresponsible but you may be held liable,” Brattleboro Police Chief Michael Fitzgerald said in a statement. “Taking matters into your own hands is another irresponsible act that usually ends up making matters worse.”



Brattleboro Police Chief Michael Fitzgerald (center) listens to Vermont U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan at a press conference on the drug problem in Brattleboro last year. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger

Police are reminding people to lock their living spaces and vehicles and keep valuables out of view. They also are asking residents to contact them if someone has rummaged through their vehicles.



“Notification will at a minimum alert us to potential criminal activity,” Fitzgerald said.



The town Selectboard has invited police to answer public questions at its meetings Jan. 28 and Feb. 4 at 6:15 p.m. at the Municipal Center.



Windham County state Sen. Jeanette White of nearby Putney has received emails from constituents seeking a change in state statutes.



“People are clearly upset, but I’m not sure we can make a law saying you can’t enter someone’s car — when I drove a Volvo and everyone else had one, there were numerous times I got in the wrong car,” the member of the Senate Judiciary Committee says. “It makes sense to try to figure out what is driving this rash and if there’s another solution, although I’m not sure what that is.”

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