DENVER (KDVR) — The Arvada Police Department is reminding motorists to stop “puffing” after two vehicles were stolen in the same manner last week, in the same morning.
The Arvada agency said that it’s averaging about four to seven stolen cars in town a week, a number that they say goes up when temperatures drop because of puffing: When people try to warm up their cars before getting inside.
On the morning of New Year’s Eve, Alyssa Andrew started her car but realized she left something inside her house. She said she ran back in with her keys still in the ignition.
“Grabbed my coffee, turned around, looked outside the window as somebody was jumping in my car,” said Andrew.
She ran back out to try and stop them, but the person took off, hitting her husband’s car on the way. Inside the car was a necklace belonging to her mother who passed away.
“Nothing in there was of value to anybody else but it was to me,” said Andrew.
Andrew’s car was one of two stolen within 30 minutes of each other that morning. Both were in the same neighborhood as well.
“I live a block from the police station and the other car that was stolen was a block from the police station in the other direction,” said Andrew.
Arvada Police say both cars were left running unattended.
“In Colorado, there’s a law against having your car running unattended if it doesn’t already have an auto-start system to where you can remote-start your car,” said Arvada Police PIO Dave Snelling.
Snelling said that outside of puffing being against the law, it’s just a bad idea in general, with criminals looking for that exact kind of behavior.
“There are criminals rolling around neighborhoods on really bad days looking for your car to be running,” said Snelling. “They’ll stop, your car will be gone because you just stepped in for a minute to get your lunchbox, your purse or whatever.”
One of the two stolen cars from New Year’s Eve was recovered abandoned in Denver, but police are still looking for the other.
