Mary Hajdu was disappointed to find items stolen from her car after she moved it to her back alley because of street-sweeping in the area.
Hajdu said she followed instructions to get her vehicle off the street and as a result, someone broke into her car and made off with several items.
“It was totally ransacked — everything was taken out of the glovebox,” she explained. “It’s a huge violation.”
Among the items stolen were some gift cards and a Flames jersey for her son, not enough to make it worthwhile to claim through insurance.
“The deductible is so high I will probably just replace the jersey for my son,” Hajdu said.
She said by advertising the fact that all the vehicles were in the alley, the area may have been a prime location for thieves to target.
The City of Calgary deferred the matter to the Calgary Police Service.
CPS said that there hasn’t been a correlation between break-ins where street-sweeping occurs.
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Const. Jeremy Shaw said best practice is to keep valuables out of sight and if possible, to have your vehicle parked in a well-lit area.
“Under a streetlight or something like that, or motion sensors or a light on a back garage,” Shaw said. “We see videos of criminals all the time just walking down the street trying door handles.”
Hajdu said her vehicle was locked and there was nothing of value visible.
She planned to work with a neighbour to check surveillance video to try and catch the person responsible.
Hajdu said she believes that if police were able to patrol the alleys when street-sweeping is happening, perhaps the outcome could have been different.