PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Residents in Portland’s Eastmoreland neighborhood woke up Monday to find their cars and sidewalks covered in broken glass, their glove boxes rifled through. But it was not exactly surprising.
“Honestly, it was a matter of time, I felt like when it was going to happen,” resident Andy Dykstra said. “Everybody I feel like I know in Portland has had their cars or businesses broken into.”
“It was a mixture of surprise, disappointment, but almost acceptance that this is almost the new normal now,” said David Lytle, who is also part of the neighborhood association. “It’s really heartbreaking to see every day and you don’t think it will happen to you until it does.”
His family’s SUV was one of the many vehicles hit along Southeast Henry near 36th. Just up the hill, Dykstra found the same thing — and he went to talk with neighbors.
“Talked to a handful of the neighbors just on this street alone. I think there were 4 or 5 other cars on this street,” said Dykstra. “Some of those neighbors knew other neighbors so within a matter of minutes, I found out that this happened throughout the neighborhood on multiple streets, all last night.”
Others posted the damage on social media sites, including NextDoor.
Portland police said they received reports of cars being broken into in the same neighborhood along Cesar Chavez and 36th, while some neighbors heard of others hit along nearby Tolman Street.
PPB Sgt. Kevin Allen said it’s a challenged to catch those responsible because of limited resources and officers needed to investigate higher-level crimes. Neighbors should file a police report about the vandalism and check their surveillance videos, he said.
“It’s difficult to set aside the resources to do a lot of follow-up investigation on those, but that said, it doesn’t mean we don’t care about those things,” said Sgt. Kevin Allen with the Portland Police Bureau. “There are times where we’re able to go back and connect a single person or a small group of people who are involved in this and we’re able to connect a lot of cases.”
Many of the Eastmoreland neighbors spent the day cleaning up the shards of glass and calling their insurance and window repair services. They said they’re thankful the damage wasn’t worse.
“This is one of the best neighborhoods. People are so friendly and everybody knows everybody,” said Lytle. “Still, stuff happens, but at least you know you can turn to your neighbor and you’re going to find a helping hand here.”