The Liberty Pole neighborhood in Hingham woke up very early last Tuesday, October 14 to police lights and sirens. Police arrived due to calls from a neighbor whose car was stolen. Ms. Fennelly, an English teacher at Hingham High School and the adviser for our Harborlight Newspaper witnessed the event.

She woke up Tuesday morning at 6 A.M. “At first I ignored it honestly,” she recalls, “but, after half an hour there was clearly something going on.” Outside, she was met with police who informed her that her neighbor’s car was stolen right out of their driveway. There was one car found in the street, and the other was missing. The police hypothesized that the car thieves started one car into neutral, rolled it out of the driveway, did the same with the other car, and then drove off.

The car was, “found later in the driveway of a Wellesley Mansion. The car at the mansion was stolen, but the [neighbor’s] car was found,” Ms. Fennelly reports. The Hingham car was used simply as transportation, but the Wellesley car has not been found and will likely be used for transportation again or sold.

“I know my neighbors don’t always lock their car doors.” Ms. Fennelly says. The robbers probably discovered this as well as an extra set of keys.  They them had a quick getaway. Many people in Hingham make similar mistakes regarding their valuables. Families leave doors unlocked, parents leave keys out, students leave cars in parking lots unlocked with phones, laptops, and other personal items inside. Robbers, most likely from other areas, take advantage of the community’s security and wealth, steal unattended, valuable items, and go to other towns to sell them.

There were seven or eight other cars broken into that night, and there’s been another string of petty theft as well. Neighbors report of having lawn ornaments stolen, such as benches or statues. Hingham citizens should take notice of these robberies and consider locking up their cars, keeping keys and valuables indoors, and perhaps moving expensive lawn ornaments to a more discreet location at night.