BOISE -- Homeowners in a central Boise neighborhood are on the lookout after they say over the last few months several things were stolen out of their cars.
“It's just something we don't experience here and it's kind of scary that it's all of a sudden starting to happen so much in the last few months,” Cole Butler, one of the homeowners off W. Denton Street, said.
Butler says in just the law few months his van was broken into and $250 stolen; his next-door neighbor’s car was broken into and her purse stolen; one neighbor even called police after noticing a suspicious person walking around their neighborhood.
“My neighbor called the cops on somebody for walking around in my carport,” Butler said.
Then there was Tuesday’s incident on W. Denton Street. Butler was sitting on his couch watching television when he noticed the handle to his front door starting to turn.
“I heard the door knob being opened up really slowly,” Butler said.
The next thing Butler knew there was a man standing in his door way.
“A guy walked in and saw that I was standing there on the couch and all of a sudden he's like 'Do you know a guy named Dave? He used to live here about four years ago, and we've lived her for about seven years, and he was like 'yeah he owned the cars out back. It's a red one and a gray one and I'm like 'No, I don't know anything about that' because they're my cars,” Butler said.
Butler did file a police report. However, there is the possibility the man wandered into the home by accident.
“Turns around and walks out the door. I followed him and looked and he got back on his bike and slowly rode off,” Butler said.
Boise Police say if you are ever put in a situation like Butler's, find a safe place and call police.
“I would rather get many phone calls of that person you’re not sure about walking down the street, walking up to your door, checking your door, stuff like that, even checking your door knob and walking in, and have it turn out to be someone, 'yeah, wrong apartment. Sorry my bad,’ than it be that one person with criminal intent,” Ed Fritz with the Boise Police Department said.
Fritz says opportunity crimes are something they deal with year-around, which is why it’s important you lock your door and take anything valuable out of your car.
“That's the great thing because it is an opportunistic type situation, you can do stuff. It’s not like you're destined to be a victim or anything like that. You have the ability to affect your odds of being a victim of a crime,” Fritz said.
Cole said he isn’t taking any more chances.
“We're setting up a security camera that has night vision,” Cole said.