Hello VAT Community,
As our community is aware the Thornapple area has experienced an uptick in property related crime in the last year. Multiple homeowners have reported: vehicles break-ins, vehicle burglary, and burglary from front and back yards. This crime has affected many of our interconnected communities: Village at Thornapple/Thornapple Meadows, Thornapple Highlands, Thornapple Grove, and George Fox.
The Board has been in contact with the CPD since these crimes began as well as our Property Manager to make sure all parties are aware of what is happening in our community. The Board understands the frustration that affected homeowners are experiencing – having experienced these crimes first hand as well.
During the Friday to Saturday overnight hours there were several vehicles broken into within our community – windows were smashed and property was stolen. We also understand that nearby business on Fisher Road was affected – with approximately 20 vehicles affected there as well. CPD officers responding to our community indicated that so many vehicles were affected that CPD had to call in assistance from surrounding precincts. They also indicated that the 20 affected vehicles at the business were broken into and robbed in under five minutes.
As previously posted the Board continues to evaluate all options available to us to help deter these types of criminals from our community. We strongly encourage all homeowners who are affected by crime, even if there is no damage or property stolen, to report the crime to the CPD. If you file a police report on the phone or online please inform Officer Paulus (our community liaison officer with the CPD) via email as well. Much like reporting of poor roadways is the best way to get the city’s attention – residents reporting crime and filing police reports will help increase the likelihood of increased patrolling in and near our community.
There have been a variety of suspicious vehicles in the community over the last year. While we would like to think this as one group of criminals, it is likely several or potentially several working in tandem. Homeowners are encouraged to keep an eye out for any suspicious vehicles within our communities.
Suspicious vehicle traits include, but are not limited to:
- Vehicles driving slowly and aimlessly – particularly at night without headlights
- Vehicles parking in secluded areas
- Vehicle occupants looking out of place
- Vehicles with visibly damaged license plates, dark tinted windows, or a cars that appear to be casing a location repeatedly
- We share this information with neighbors for awareness as always your safety is priority one and we urge you strongly to NOT APPROACH suspicious vehicles.
Below we have listed reminders of best safety practices as well as some social media sites/groups that tend to have active (and in some cases real-time) conversation. As a reminder: the VAT Board does not own, administer, or manage any of the content nor access to any Facebook or other social media group. We share this information ONLY to further help keep our community safe. The only official communications from the Board will come from the community newsletter posts or letters/emails sent directly to homeowners. Likewise we encourage any feedback you would like to give the board to be emailed or submitted via contact form on the website.
Best Safety Practices –
Please discuss these with all appropriate members of your family, especially teens and teen drivers.
- Be sure to secure any vehicles left outside as well as securing doors and windows at night
If at all possible park vehicles in garages where they are most secure.
- Secure any valuables left outdoors or in vehicles
Locking your vehicle and ensuring that no items are visible is the number one way you can reduce your likelihood of being a victim of these types of crime.
Specifically make sure to remove: loose change, cards, wallets, all bags (backpacks, purses, diaper bags, etc), sunglass cases, etc. Criminals look for these items to make easy money by reselling. To make sure alarms don’t go off they will often break windows to get to these items. Make sure these items are not stored in your vehicles!
For items that are too large to move indoors, like porch/patio furniture, consider using security cables. Ensure all walkthrough gates are locked when possible. Making items harder to steal is an easy way to reduce crime.
- Make best use of any security features you currently have on your home
Be sure to keep exterior lights on or on timers at night. Make sure motion lights are powered and have functioning light bulbs. Increase the sensitivity of any motion detectors or video cameras on your property to ensure that they are capturing as much video as possible when motion is detected. Some camera systems offer “linked camera” features causing all cameras to record footage even if motion sensors did not activate them. Learn all the tools on your security devices and use them. Add locks to any gates to make removing property from your yard more challenging.
- Use landscaping to your advantage
If your property has easily visible sightlines to property you feel is valuable (like patio furniture, gas grills, yard decorations, etc) try to obscure the view by using well placed plants, flowers, and shrubs. This is particularly important for any homeowners on corner lots where more of their property is visible.
- Add the Columbus police non-emergency number to your phone’s contacts
If you see anything suspicious in the neighborhood contact the non emergency line at 614 645 4545. Be prepared with as much of a description as you can safely provide – vehicle or clothing descriptions, license plate numbers, vehicle damage, any identifying characteristics can be very useful to police. As always, DO NOT APPROACH ANY SUSPICIOUS VEHICLE OR PERSON. Your safety is paramount.
- Check your property and any camera motion-alerts daily
A quick review of your exterior property will ensure that you are aware of when anything may have been taken as well as give you an opportunity to ensure your safety measures are always in place and working as intended. Reviewing doorbell or other security camera footage may show any suspicious activity even if your home wasn’t directly affected.
- Report any crime/theft to Columbus Police
Obtaining additional patrols in the area of our community will not happen if there are not documented reports with the Columbus police of any issues. Please take the time to file the appropriate reports at the time of any incidents.
Social Media
While the Board does not manage an official VAT Facebook group there are three unofficial groups we are aware of that are fairly active. We have included their information below for reference, however please note that these groups have their own specific descriptions and intents. Please review all group rules prior to joining/posting.
Thornapple Community Facebook Group – This is a group that consists of neighbors within VAT, Thornapple Meadows, Thornapple Highlands, Thornapple Grove and George Fox (essentially all the interconnected neighborhoods).
Village at Thornapple Unofficial Facebook Group – This is a self managed group of neighbors within VAT only.
Thornapple Community Block Watch – This group posts any security concerns within the area. Please note that there is NOT an active meeting/patrolling block watch at this time – however this group is useful to post any security issues/concerns.
Several homeowners may also use Nextdoor where you can indicate that you live in the Village at Thornapple neighborhood and get digests of information similar to Facebook but with a neighborhood and surrounding area focus.
Stay safe neighbors.
