Mayor’s Minute By Stewart Welch III - February 2023

We don’t live in Mayberry, USA, anymore.

Growing up in Mountain Brook in the 1950s and 1960s was very reminiscent of “The Andy Griffith Show” and the small town of Mayberry. We never locked our doors, left the keys in our cars, and neighbors’ kids came and went as if we all shared the same home.

Even today, I hear folks speak of Mountain Brook as the “Mayberry of the South.” This safe feeling too often has us letting our guard down and criminals take advantage of our lackadaisical attitude.

While Mountain Brook has one of the lowest crime rates in the state, there is still more crime than necessary. Perhaps the most prevalent and preventable crime in our city is automobile break-ins.

If we all did a few common sense things, we could significantly reduce this particular crime in our city.

Lock your automobiles. We have had criminal gangs drop off fellow criminals in the middle of the night in our neighborhoods. They then move through stealthily checking to see if cars are unlocked. When they find one, they rummage through it looking for anything of value.

Don’t leave valuables in plain sight. It only takes a few seconds to break a car window and steal an item.

Don’t leave your keys or key fob in your car. The first thing a criminal does is push the start button. If it cranks, they steal the car.

Here’s why it matters. Bank robber Willie Sutton was asked, “Why do you rob banks?” He replied, “Because that’s where the money is!”

It’s the same reason criminals are attracted to Mountain Brook. Too many of us leave our cars unlocked with valuables in plain sight and some leave keys in their car as well. If you don’t care about your stuff, how about caring about your neighbor? Success breeds more criminal activity and many of the criminals are armed. I have a friend who witnessed a car break-in at his home in the middle of the night. He ran to the front porch and yelled at them and they fired a pistol. No one was injured, but what could have happened is a scary thought.

By us all being diligent, we can take away the incentive for this criminal activity.

If you’d like to get the weekly crime report, download the Mountain Brook PD app from the App Store on your smartphone.