"We are looking at some homegrown perpetrators but also perpetrators coming from New Jersey," Gulotta said."What we are seeing is they steal a car in New Jersey, they bring it over here, and then they go around looking for other cars to steal," the chief said.
In Romeo's case, his family did not leave the key fob inside the car, but they did forget to lock it up -- a simple mistake they will not make again. Driving through neighborhoods, getting the message out over loudspeakers, Detective Tom Kelly is part of the team reminding neighbors to lock their doors. Kelly also says using an air tag.
"You can locate it immediately on your phone, you contact the police, tell us where it is and more often that not we are able to recover those cars," Kelly said. Drivers who use an AirTag are advised by police not to leave it out in the open where anyone can see it; make sure to hide it.