Twice in one night? Dundas woman captures video of thieves breaking into her car

Laura Varga was surprised to discover her car had been broken overnight earlier this week.

But then, when she viewed her home security tape, she realized her car had been broken into by two separate thieves, just over an hour apart.

Surveillance video shows someone opening the car at 2:46 a.m. Wednesday morning and then another person opening the door at 3:55 a.m.

The Dundas resident doesn't believe they were related incidents.

Both thieves had hoodies on, making them difficult to identify, but Varga believes they're kids. One had a flashlight, one did not.

We probably lost a good handful of change and paper money.-  Laura Varga

"I think it's a crazy coincidence that they were both roaming the neighbourhood that same night. It would be weird if they knew each other and if the second kid was just coming to the same car a second time," said Varga.

Hamilton police say the incident serves as a good reminder of the need to keep your car doors locked— not just when you are out shopping or running errands, but unfortunately, in your driveway as well.

Varga says they always try to make a conscious effort to lock the doors, but unfortunately they weren't on Wednesday night.

"We probably lost a good handful of change and paper money," said Varga.

She says the money wasn't visible from outside the car.

Varga says her family decided to install surveillance after their GPS went missing a few months ago, and after hearing stories from her neighbours about car theft.

They also have a motion detection light.

"I thought even that would be a deterrent and clearly it's not," said Varga.

In the first incident the person appears to be backing up towards the car. Varga assumes they did so, knowing about the camera. 

"The one kid, to me looks like he knows exactly that there's a camera and he's walking towards the front door backwards, with his back to the camera, which makes me think he knows, he's trying to hide his face," said Varga.

Varga contacted the police and says they're going to look at the video in an attempt to identify the suspects.

Varga says the recent incidents haven't made her or her family feel unsafe.

I feel this is a strong case for the Lock it or Lose it campaign.- Hamilton police Const. Jerome Stewart

"I feel like we're pretty safe because I don't think these kids are out there to harm anybody. They're just there to grab whatever they can," said Varga.

From the neighbours Varga spoke with, no one else reported missing items.

"The message is, lock your stuff, take it in and maybe just keep your eyes open if you see anything weird happening at night," said Varga.

Hamilton police Const. Jerome Stewart uttered a similar message when it comes to locking the doors.

"I feel this is a strong case for the Lock it or Lose it campaign said Stewart."

Stewart says police are promoting the campaign because they want people to make sure that both their valuables are out of plain sight as well as reminding people to lock their doors.

A reminder comes at this time of year especially with holiday shopping says Stewart. 

"This is not a problem that's across the board. We do have theft from auto and generally speaking, that type of offence is a crime of opportunity. So somebody walking by notices items of value left in plain view and they just take advantage of it," said Stewart.