COUNTYWIDE : ‘Tis the Season for Shopping Thefts

Criminal grinches might not be able to steal your Christmas, but they could run off with your purse or the gifts you spent all day picking out.

The holidays can be a time of warmhearted giving, but also a time of coldhearted taking, especially around your local mall, police said. “Unfortunately, in the holiday time period, we do experience an increase in auto burglary and purse snatches,” Santa Ana Police Lt. Bob Helton said.

In mad dashes from store to store, preoccupied shoppers often become careless, police said. They will leave a purse or wallet unattended for just a moment, forgetting that a wad of $20 bills might attract the wrong attention, or they will fail to notice a person or car following them through a dark mall parking lot, police said.

“The easiest crime target is just someone who’s not alert,” Huntington Beach Police Officer J.B. Hume said. “People really lose track of their personal safety because the holidays keep their minds so occupied.”

Shoppers are harried, stores are crowded, and cars often sit in shopping center parking lots with shiny new gifts inside calling out to the wrong recipient. To keep from becoming a victim, Hume said, “it’s best not to have visions of sugar plums dancing in your head.”

Crimes such as car break-ins, purse snatches and even strong-arm robberies go up during the holidays because there are more opportunities for thieves to make an easy getaway with valuable gifts or purses and wallets loaded with cash, police said.

Criminals “know that people coming out with their arms full of packages are not going to fight as hard so long as they’re trying to hold on to all the things in their arms” if a thief runs by and grabs a dangling purse, Helton said.

Generally, police offered these suggestions to holiday shoppers:

* No matter how preoccupied you are, stay alert as to who is around you and what they are doing.

* Lock packages inside your trunk or hide them from potential thieves in the hatch.

* Don’t carry cash or credit cards in your hands where they can be easily grabbed.

* Make purchases with checks or credit cards to avoid carrying large amounts of cash.

* Park in a well-lighted place, and don’t take shortcuts through dark alleys between stores or in parking structures.

* Shop with a friend. A thief is more likely to attack when you are alone.

* Don’t be embarrassed to ask a store or mall security guard to walk you to your car.