Police investigate string of car break-ins, robberies in NE Atlanta

Neighbors in one Atlanta community are worried after a string of car break-ins early Monday morning.
 
Police say they found around 16 cars broken into or damaged in residential parking lot near Inman Park.
 
They say they had a spike in crimes like this late Sunday into Monday throughout some northeast Atlanta neighborhoods.
 
It's something that has neighbors worried.
 
"I guess it was a screwdriver they took to the locks so I can't lock my car," Kelly Ambrose told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri, showing her the steel plate and the club now covering the steering wheel on her Jeep Grand Cherokee.
 
She says criminals have broken in twice outside her Waddell Street home in Inman Park. 
 
"Not knowing if I'm going to have to do this all the time is so incredibly frustrating," said Kayvon Gerami.
 
Gerami also lives on Waddell Street and found his car's rear window shattered in Monday morning and it wasn't the first time someone got in his car. 
 
He says thieves bent the door frame, smashed the glass and took items from his car.
 
Atlanta police told Viteri that they saw a spike in damage and thefts from cars including 16 at a gated lot behind an apartment complex on North Highland Avenue.
 
"This is something that took place across an entire section of the city on that particular night," said Officer Ralph Woolfolk of the Atlanta Police Department.
 
Viteri asked police for reports related to the incidents and learned there were also four vehicles broken into on Elizabeth Street as well as one stolen from DeKalb Avenue.
 
Alycia Linke says someone stole her car from Waddell Street last week, which thieves later abandoned.
 
"They ripped out my entire steering panel, my ignition and everything," Linke said.
 
Woolfolk told Viteri that police will be increasing patrols in the area and it's not clear if the crimes are connected.
 
"They're not getting arrested, they're not getting caught, what stops them from let's try a house?" Germani said.
 
Atlanta police also say they are going to be talking with local security patrols and complex management to be vigilant and they want neighbors to do the same.