AUTO VANDALISM AT THE DOG BEACH

Hundreds of people continue to visit the Dog Beach of Hollywood every weekend, however not everyone has had a positive experience. The North Beach area has felt an increased wave of auto vandalism especially in the late hours of the afternoon when there is less foot traffic in the parking area. Even though cars are broken into every day, people have a false sense of security when going to the beach.

Very often valuables are left in full view & this makes everyone a target. Thieves are lured in by one valuable item & then they decide to break into more cars in the hopes of finding other things left behind. The form of entry has been smashed windows which are not covered by insurance companies & it costs over $250.00 to repair. People feel that as long as valuables are hidden in the trunk, they won’t be stolen. Unfortunately, thieves will break your window & press the release button in your dash board to unlock the trunk. If you have no other recourse but to leave valuables in your trunk, do so before arriving so that you are not being watched.

Here are some of the unfortunate incidents in Hollywood this summer:

1. A woman had her car broken into while at the Dog Beach, when she only had a yoga mat in her SUV. Her mat came in a duffle bag & even though the thieves did not take it, she was left with a broken window.

2. Last month, twelve cars along North Beach were broken into in less than one hour. Thousands of dollars were stolen including a few GPS devices, a wallet & a computer left hidden underneath a towel.

3. A man’s car was broken into just for leaving some clothing in the back seat. It is believed the thieves were hoping that a wallet was left inside his pants. The clothing was not stolen.

There has been a report of 4 guys in a gray sedan to be responsible for this wave of vandalism. According to this report, 2 Hispanic men are the watch guys in A1A & Surf Road. While two African Americans drive around braking into cars. The police believe these are teenagers that are out on break from school since auto vandalism increases every year during the summer months.

The Dog Beach of Hollywood association continues to play an important role in their continuous effort to make the Dog Beach a positive experience for everyone. Even though our main goal is to encourage visitors to practice” good dog petiquette,” we were present at the Crime Watch event on August 4, passing out flyers to those who were present. In this article we hope to bring general awareness & ask beach goers to report any suspicious activity by calling 954 967 HELP (4357). We suggest that you save this number on your cell phone, & BE ALERT.

By Helena Rozo
President of DBOH