NEW ORLEANS — When Roxanne McCracken, who lives on the Northshore, went back to her Audi SUV after the LSU championship game Jan. 13, there was a problem.
"It wasn't there," said McCracken.
That was a Monday. Surveillance video from a home on Calhoun Street near Audubon Park in New Orleans, where she left it, shows someone walk up to the passenger side door. After the window was busted, the SUV is stolen.
"It was amazing how fast it was — so upsetting that it was so blatant," said McCracken.
WWLTV will not show that video because of privacy concerns. While McCraken was just one of many victims of increased car break-ins and thefts across the city, her troubles were just beginning. She couldn’t file a police report until days later.
She said officers just seemed uninterested until she finally got a call a few days later from an officer who took her information.
"He said it would be two to three weeks before I get a police report, and then, he gave me the police report number," said McCracken.
McCracken said from there, she hoped her SUV was listed as stolen. Turns out, that may not have been the case. She got another call Jan. 27 from a tow truck driver who said her car was found abandoned, wheels missing, in New Orleans East. She said she called her insurance company and the tow truck driver called police.
"He called me back and said your car was never on the stolen car registry," said McCracken. “At that point, it had been two and a half weeks. Seems like that's enough time to file a police report.”
With recent cyber-attacks against the city, it's unclear whether there's a connection to reports not making it into the system or if there's just a filing backlog. Whatever the case, McCracken said there's potential for a bigger problem.
"It concerns me that people like me have their cars stolen, and those cars are used to commit crimes," said McCraken. “If it's not on the registry then police are not out there looking for it. How do they stop it?"
McCracken said as of Tuesday night, she still hadn't heard from the New Orleans Police Department. WWLTV reached out to NOPD about this particular case, to ask what the issue might be. NOPD asked for a case number, which WWLTV gave them.
As of Tuesday night, there’s been no response.
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