Summer is one of the most common seasons for users to take advantage of the 19 Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks. But as visits increase, so does the risk of vehicle break-ins.
About 8 million people visit Metro Parks annually, but just 100 vehicle break-ins were reported in all of 2020, and 50 in all of 2021. So far this year, there have been 30.
Metro Parks visitor engagement manager Jill Snyder said the issue is the second-most reported illegal activity in the system, next to dogs roaming off leash. It doesn’t happen every day, but some parks do see more of these break-ins than others, and the patterns are often reflective of patterns found in the surrounding neighborhood.
“Parks tend to be a pretty easy spot because they know well, ‘someone's just parked their car. And they're going to be on the trail for another hour. So I've got some time,’” Snyder said.
11 of the 19 parks have at least one report of a vehicle break-in this year. Highbanks saw the second most, with three reports this year. But the park with the most incidents so far is Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park with 15 – which is half of the total number of break-ins reported in 2022.
In 2020, when the entire park system saw 99 break-ins, just Highbanks alone saw 23 incidents. Snyder said the break-ins tend to ebb and flow depending on the weather and other trends. She says the high number this year in Battelle Darby seems to correspond with just one person.
But sometimes the burglars are more organized than that.
“There are some organized crime groups that actually target park systems. And so they will come in, hit an area. You know, like I said, not just the park, but the surrounding area. And then once they start to feel the pressure from local law enforcement and metro parks, they will actually move to a completely different city town state,” Snyder said.
To deter crimes, park officials rotate cameras to different parks as problems arise. Snyder says keeping rangers on patrol and visible is essential.
“Our rangers work very hard at varying their patrol so that it's a little less predictable. Certainly, if we know that there are windows of time where we're seeing more break-ins, then we will increase patrols during those windows, but we try to make it a little less predictable. One of the things that we know is that the criminals are watching us and they are watching the visitors," she said.
Regular users of the trails at Highbanks Metro Park said they haven’t been affected by the break-ins. Renee Woodworth said she’s never had a problem.
“I come here quite often. Never had anything that would disturb me being here alone, which I spend a couple of hours, two or three times a week. I think the security here is fantastic," Woodworth said.
To keep items safe, Snyder has some other advice.
“The criminals are watching when you get out of your car and they see you put your purse in the trunk or under the seat. And then they know, ‘Once I pop the lock or break the window, I just hit the trunk release, and I can get access to everything I need,'" Snyder said. "So, one of the big things that we really try to encourage people to do is not bring anything valuable to the park. And If you have to bring something valuable to the park, store it in your trunk or out of view before you arrive.”
