NEW ORLEANS — Venus Masakowski and her dog Ollie walk their Uptown neighborhood twice day – at dawn and at dusk.
In the last few weeks those walks have led to Ollie sniffing out some unusual things.
“We find cases with medication in them, debit cards, drivers licenses,” Masakowski said.
Turns out, all of it is from cars that have been broken into.
“It’s unbelievable,” Masakowski said. “Apparently they’re just discarded by the people that break-in.”
It’s a problem Masakowski says is increasing Uptown.
According to the city council’s crime dashboard, reported carjackings are up 129 percent so far over last year. Last year there were 96. So far this year, there are 220. As for vehicle burglaries, there are 5,063 reported cases citywide so far this year. Last year there were 6,071.
“I’d love to see it go away, but it’s certainly ramping up and it’s really getting out of hand in recent weeks,” Nick Volz, who lives in Uptown, said.
Recently, three cars were broken into on Volz’s block in one night.
“Mine was the only window they couldn’t breakthrough. There were three different marks, so I believe they tried to break the window,” Volz said.
Volz says the next night, four cars were broken into one block over. Volz has even been carjacked at gunpoint and had his home broken into in the past.
“It’s a little unsettling. There’s a sense of insecurity because we all want to feel safe and secure,” Volz said.
Volz says he doesn’t leave valuables in his car but knows sometimes other people might.
“If you leave valuable in your car, they will be stolen but not only that it’ll incentivize them to break into other people’s vehicles,” Volz said.
“This is unprecedented and it’s getting really scary,” Masakowski said.
Masakowski was able to track down the people whose belongings she found and says she won’t stop walking or looking. She even has a message for criminals.
“You’re doing a lot more than just taking people’s things. You’re causing a lot of inconvenience and heartache. You’re affecting people’s ways of life,” Masakowski said.
RELATED: 'Our family is ruined' | Aunt of teenager killed in Metairie shooting wishes bullets hit her instead
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
