SAN ANTONIO — Zsa Whitworth walked out to her driveway last week to find her Honda Civic gone without a trace. The family shares the vehicle and the keys were left inside.
But Whitworth soon discovered she wasn't alone. She found constant posts and videos on Nextdoor.com of criminals attempting to get into vehicles in both her neighborhood and others. Multiple videos showed a vehicle stop on the street in the early morning and then showed multiple individuals get out and check every door handle they can find.
"I'm angry. I'm so mad! I moved to Schertz because it was a close-knit community," Whitworth said. "The crimes are just getting committed the same way night after night after night. Why can't we find some way to stop it?"
Whitworth then showed KENS 5 several videos posted on Nextdoor where people in hoodies attempted, and sometimes succeeded, in getting into local vehicles. She said she wanted to know if Schertz PD was still out on the street.
Schertz Police Department spokeswoman Anna Kraft told KENS 5 Friday the department does have patrols in the early morning hours and the department had actually stepped up patrols before Christmas.
"We are aware of this and we are asking our citizens and community members to please lock your vehicles. Take your belongings, and especially your keys, out of your cars," Kraft said.
Kraft said anyone who sees criminal activities on their home surveillance cameras should make a police report even if the crime was not successful. At the same time, it was clear that the report would often be done over the phone and an officer would not necessarily be able to collect the video.
This means the person reporting the incident would need to email the video or put it on a flash drive.
KENS 5 strongly recommends using WeTransfer.com to email large videos, as the user does not need a subscription or account to do so. KENS 5 sent several surveillance videos to Schertz PD using this method Friday afternoon.
"Every piece of information that we get, helps us to try and catch these people," Kraft said. "Even if someone's vehicle isn't broken into, they need to let us know if they see this so we know if they are mainly in this neighborhood...especially if the video gives us an idea of the kind of vehicle that they are in."
Whitworth said she's seeing new posts about car burglaries every single day and Schertz PD needs to prioritize getting those videos.
"Probably 15 of my neighbors have evidence showing these people getting out of cars and checking every car door they can find," Whitworth said.