FRANKLIN, Tenn.- Franklin police have warned residents to keep a close eye on their lawn maintenance equipment after several thefts of the items over the past few days.
Officials said the sleepy streets of suburbia can often times led residents to be forgetful and in Franklin police said that thieves are using that sense of security to their advantage.
Now that the weather has turned warm and many people are mowing their lawn more regularly, police are seeing an increase of lawn equipment theft.
Police said that lawn equipment can bring in quick cash for criminals. Professional equipment as well as commercial available mowers and weed eaters are expensive and offer a honey hole for local crooks.
JD Thompson knows firsthand how quickly a piece of equipment can disappear.
"By the time I got to my next job and I went over to grab a weed-eater and it was gone," said Thompson.
Police said that these crimes are usually crimes of opportunity. All it takes is a quick bathroom break or few minutes to cool off and hundreds of dollars of equipment are gone.
"In one particular case the thieves actually went into an open car port and stolen the items out of that carport right next to the residence," said Franklin Police Sergeant Charlie Warner.
Once the crooks have their hands on the equipment, it's easy to get rid of them without anyone thinking a crime has been committed.
"These days with Craigslist, how does anyone know? They just go by your house and buy it, they don't know if it's stolen or not," said Thompson.
Thompson thinks this type of crime might be a bigger problem the police even know about. When he fell victim he never reported the theft.
"If you have insurance, it's not going to cover the cost of a weed-eater because usually your deductible is more than that," he said.
It's a growing problem in the spring that anyone can fall victim to in a matter a minutes.
Franklin police advised residents to take their lawn equipment inside when they are not around. They said that this is a crime of opportunity, and if citizens don't provide that crook with a chance to steal your mower, he won't be able to.
Police also said it's a good idea to take an inventory of all your equipment and write down the serial number for each piece of machinery you have. That way police can track the equipment if it does disappear.
