Hello Riverview and the surrounding community,

I received a message from our Ward 5 Councilman, Ed Ladouceur, a few days ago about car thefts & “thefts of opportunity” that occurred in the Warwick Neck area. A few more incidents have occurred since the e-Newsletter your received on August 28th.

Here’s Ed’s message for the Ward 5 community:

Break Ins & Auto Theft:

Please be aware that there have been some recent break ins to vehicles and actually two were stolen last night off of Warwick Neck Ave.

The Warwick PD have recovered one so far in Ct. as far as I know.

These incidents are referred to as “Towninig”.
This occurred last night in the Kirby and Narragansett Bay AV area, (8/25/22). This is when a group of juveniles and usually from CT (per my information) pilfer quiet and safe neighborhoods. They will go through unlocked vehicles and steal whatever they can. They usually find cars with keys let in them.

Please share this information with all your neighbors, friends and association members. 

Tell everyone to “LOCK YOUR VEHICLES” and take the keys with. If you need to leave your vehicles outside remember not to leave the Garage Door opener in it, your Toll Booth Pass or any other valuables. Also lock your glove compartments. 

The crooks are everywhere!!!

Ed Ladouceur

Ward 5 Councilman

– – – END – – – 

My comments:

Being robbed is no fun! I got robbed in Newport many years ago at the 3-family home I lived in with roommates. The house is located in a very nice area of Newport – on RI Avenue. We had 6 mountain bikes and my 5 HP outboard motor stolen from the cellar. Ugh! The bulkhead was locked, BUT the main front door of this big old Victorian was not typically locked. Luckily everyones apartments were locked!

A thief got into the cellar via the front foyer and opened up the bulkhead from inside. He cleared us out! Needless to say, the policy of keeping that front door locked changed! The police mentioned he used a box truck to operate quickly. THIS OCCURRED DURING THE DAY when we were working.

We lost about $3000 of really nice mountain bikes that were all of our main transportation around town. Plus, I rode for exercise. I bought a replacement but it wasn’t as nice as the one I had saved for.

My point: When you get robbed you feel pretty violated and your perspective changes on keeping things extra safe from those who live to a different set of rules.

Locks do help!
(They mostly keep honest people honest but in this case the thief wouldn’t have gotten through the front door.)

Sure you forget sometimes. But I don’t recommend leaving things wide open as a normal practice for “Crimes of Opportunity” to occur.

PS: We never got the bikes back BUT the thief was caught! He lived about 8 houses down the street with his mother! (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Great job Newport Police! Renter’s insurance (which we all had) didn’t cover the losses since the bikes were stored in the cellar. The property owner’s insurance didn’t cover tenants’ things! You’ve gotta love insurance loopholes, right? I got my outboard motor back.

So have a great day and maybe Lock Up Your Car and Home!

Unless you’re like Jerry in the 1993 Seinfeld episode, with “The Smelly Car!”, it’s best to lock it.|
For a laugh, look up this episode! I love Seinfeld!

Enjoy your Sunday and days ahead!

David Woisard
President &
MyRVIA.org Admin