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Little Rock auto glass shop busy as they see increase in car break-ins

The owner of Capitol Glass Co. in downtown Little Rock said they had nearly 20 cars come in on Monday that needed repairs after attempted break-ins.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — According to Little Rock police, car break-ins are common this time of year. One downtown auto glass shop explained how they've been seeing the jump in cases first-hand.

"There's definitely been a big increase probably from this past weekend," Capitol Glass Co-owner, Aaron Grimes said.

He noticed it first thing on Monday morning when several cars lined up before the garage opened at 8:00 a.m.

"We had cars stacked from one end to the other from 7:30 in the morning until late in the afternoon. And the vast majority of them were car break-ins and door glasses which is way higher volume than we normally see with that type of issue," Grimes described.

It's been keeping them busy, especially as they continue repairs on other cars at the shop.

"Honestly, going all the way back to the tornado and the two hailstorms and increased break-ins we've been, since the end of March we've been as busy as we've ever been," he said.

Grimes wants customers to know they're working as fast as they can. 

"There's only three major glass warehouses in town to get glass from. And so if you know and they don't stock, tons of any certain parts, get multiple the same type of cars and get broke into some bigger so there can always be a delay in getting parts," he explained.

Even if they do have the right parts, Grimes said fixing glass isn't a quick process. 

"We have to move the door panel. There's a lot of disassembly and reassembly involved in actually doing the door glass and it's a lot more time-consuming," he described.

Little Rock police said these car break-ins are pretty common during the summer as more people are out and about. 

On Thursday, Officer Jonathan Tolentino told us that they have been happening all over the city with 276 reported car break-ins from June 1 to July 10.

"People like to get out a lot more not just pools, parks, you know, and they really like going like the outlet malls and stuff as well," Officer Jonathan Tolentino added.

No matter where you go, Officer Tolentino said preparation is key. 

"Put these practices into play. You know, hide your belongings take away the, or don't take them with you at all if you don't have to," Officer Tolentino said.

On Monday alone, Grimes said they had nearly 20 cars come in to be fixed after attempted break-ins.

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