Pittsburgh Police warning residents about increased break-ins in Brookline neighborhood

PITTSBURGH — This week, Pittsburgh police put out an alert that thieves have been stealing from cars parked in the city’s Brookline neighborhood.

“You’d think there’d be less crime on the main street, but no…not at all,” said Dakota Trimpey, a now-former resident of Brookline. “I had a bunch of disc golf stuff stolen out of the vehicle, and then I had my wallet and spare keys stolen.”

Channel 11 caught up with Trimpey as he was packing up his car, moving out the last of his belongings from what is now his former apartment on Chelton Avenue, right off of Brookline Boulevard, where he used to park until two incidents throughout the last few months.

“Like 8 a.m., I ran upstairs for like 20 minutes and came back down…half my stuff was gone out of my car,” Trimpey said.

Pittsburgh police said with thefts on the rise in the area, especially in the last several days, this is an active and ongoing investigation. They’ve assigned directed patrols in Brookline but are asking everyone who lives and parks in the area to remove visible items from unattended vehicles.

“As a photographer, I would never keep my equipment in view because it’s an invitation for it to be broken into, so I would always make sure my camera equipment was stowed away before I parked,” said Edward Petrosky of Brookline.

While Petrosky said he has never had any issues in Brookline, he feels it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“All it has to happen is once,” Petrosky said. “You learn the hard way.”

If you believe you’ve been a victim of one of these crimes, Pittsburgh police said to call Zone 6 directly at 412-937-3051.

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