NEW ORLEANS — A lot of people will be coming to New Orleans these next couple of weeks to enjoy the parades and other Mardi Gras festivities.
Unfortunately, along with the Carnival revelry, comes the risk your vehicle may be broken into while you’re having a good time.
Car burglary is the kind of crime that shakes people’s sense of security.
“I absolutely don’t want to drive my car back into the city,” Don Tucker said.
Earlier this week, Tucker and his wife traveled from Slidell to New Orleans for the opening night of Tina at the Saenger Theatre.
While they were enjoying the show, they say a man was breaking into their car.
Video from one of their vehicle’s security cameras, shows him riding up on a bike, looking around, then shattering a window with a spring-loaded glass breaker.
They were parked near the corner of Canal and S. Rampart Streets.
"After the show let out, we had a 100-foot walk from the Saenger back to our car,” Tucker said. “When we got to the car, we noticed our back window was broken out.”
After rummaging around in the car, the man rode away empty handed.
“All the traffic going by, nobody says anything or does anything,” Tucker said
This is just one in a growing number of vehicles in the city broken into while folks are enjoying special events downtown.
The crime is also a huge problem in front of people’s homes in the city and neighboring parishes.
“Crime is out of control,” Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie said. “I think people have just had enough. We’ve kind of hit a tipping point. So, people are looking at lawmakers to see how can we help the situation.”
Schlegel is proposing harsher penalties for simple car burglary.
Her bill would provide a 1-12 year penalty for anyone who commits the crime within one square mile of any fair, festival, musical or theatrical production, parade, or sporting event.
It would also apply anywhere, for to those caught breaking into a string of vehicles.
“Currently simple burglary is up to 12 years,” Schlegel said. “It’s 0 to 12 and this enhancement is 1 to 12 with the first year being not probatable. So, you’d be going to jail.”
Schlegel hopes a mandatory minimum sentence will help reduce car break ins.
“People don’t want to go into the city anymore because they don’t feel safe. They don’t want to go to the parades because their car might be broken into when they’re finished having a good time,” she said.
Tucker says when you go into the city to see a show, you now have to factor in the cost of dinner, tickets and the cost of a new car window.
“If you’re driving you’re car into the city with an expectation that you’re going to be fine, I would not have that feeling,” Tucker said.
Schlegel’s car burglary bill is expected to be considered during the upcoming legislative session which begins in April.