Fairfield police urged community members to lock their cars after officers responded to 48 thefts from cars and 17 thefts of cars since Sept. 1. The reminder to do so and not leave anything valuable in cars isn’t new, but police have seen an increase in these types of crimes over the past couple months so they’ve released security video from a couple incidents to highlight the consequences of what can happen.

“I think in a community like Fairfield there's a general sense of, ‘It's safe.’ And it is. But these are what we call crimes of opportunity, and if we continue to allow that opportunity, these individuals are going to keep coming in and keep taking advantage of that,” stated Sgt. Michael Stahl. “We thought it was important to get away from the, ‘It's 9 p.m. Lock your doors,’ type of messaging and really show people what is occurring in our town and throughout the state.”

On the afternoon of Sept. 1, police responded to Lovers Lane after calls about two teens on a moped trying to access cars in people’s driveways. When officers got there, the two had already taken off. But police later learned they went to nearby Highlawn Road where video showed them hit a Range Rover parked in a driveway. Karen Masliah and her husband have lived there for 22 years.

“My husband went to Home Depot. He came back, and he did not lock his car, which is very unusual for him,” Masliah told News 12.

Masliah said they had no idea the SUV was accessed or that keys instead were stolen.

“My husband had a set of keys in his car. We have a restaurant, and they're these restaurant spare keys,” Masliah explained. “And he had a house key on there that he completely forgot about.”

That is, until the thieves returned around 3 a.m. The home’s doorbell camera caught them trying to break in before deciding to leave.

“I don't know if they got spooked or what and left, but our door was actually opened. They managed to open it. You feel so violated,” Masliah said. “I didn't sleep for three days. We ordered an alarm the following day, changed the locks, and the police were awesome.”

Police said the two suspects, ages 14 and 17, were later caught. Both are from Bridgeport.

“Even though they're juveniles, they have an extensive criminal history from what we were able to see, and one of them was arrested just days after the initial incident for having a firearm and being involved in a shooting in another town,” Stahl stated, adding that the crimes are mostly committed by people who don’t live in Fairfield.

Last week, police arrested a 17-year-old from New Haven in another incident. Police said around 5 a.m. on Nov. 3, patrol officers saw two vehicles parked with the doors open on Oldfield Road and Smith Street and multiple people trying to access parked cars nearby. When they saw police, the two vehicles took off. Police followed and were able to use a tire deflation device to stop one of the cars at it tried to get onto I-95 North. Police took the underage driver into custody after a brief chase and said he told them the group targeted Fairfield as a place with easy access to unlocked cars.

“We're not looking to put this video out there and scare people. It's just to give you a reality as to what's occurring so that you can make better decisions as to being vigilant about locking your car, removing those valuables and also securing your home,” Stahl explained.

Masliah said she’s grateful to police and what happened doesn’t change her love of Fairfield.

“We're all good. Everyone’s safe and sound. The police did a great job. They caught the people. I've been sleeping very good lately,” Masliah told News 12.