News 12 at 6 o'clock / Wednesday, May 18, 2011

AUGUSTA, Ga. --- An Augusta church wants to know who is breaking into cars in their parking lot.

They have seen a series of smash-and-grabs just this year and now they are getting a little help from above in the form of surveillance cameras.

Since January, First Baptist Church of Augusta says they have had at least 17 of their members' cars broken into and one just last week shows a criminal's technique and target.

This is real-time video of the parking lot Wednesday afternoon. All looks quiet, but you know what they say, cameras never lie.

First Baptist Church of Augusta Senior Pastor Dr. Greg DeLoach says, "They are all in the middle of the day. Not only in the middle of the day, but with the parking lot fairly full."

It is during these hours that a culprit or culprits are looking for goodies in your cars. A look at video from a break-in last week shows an older gray or white sedan pulls up to the lot and parks.

The video shows they walk around the parking lot looking through each window and that's how they choose their targets.

In this case, there were two men who then drove up to the driver's side of a car, smash, and go.

Dr. DeLoach says, "This is an active church with a lot of ministries and activities people coming and going so it's pretty bold and audacious."

The church has seen it a lot during the morning when moms are dropping off kids at preschool leaving behind visible and valuable possessions.

A look at the video shows they appear to drive off, but only park closer to their next target.

Dr. DeLoach says it's now reinforcing good common sense. "Don't leave things of value that are visible in your car whether it's a pocket book, or wallet, or laptop computer. That's not only true at a shopping mall. Unfortunately it's also true at a church."

That is why they have installed these cameras hoping another higher power will help watch over.

Dr. DeLoach says, "We'd rather not do that mainly because you are spending a lot of money to provide video surveillance and that's tithes and offerings of church members that would rather be redirected towards ministry but we need to provide a safe environment."

The church says they are not the only ones who have seen this problem, neighboring businesses at the Augusta Exchange, some of them who have also gotten cameras.

The church is asking for everyone to be vigilant and one of the problems is not everyone is reporting them which makes it difficult for the Sheriff's Office to pinpoint hot spots.

On the church's end, they are installing two more cameras, which means a $20,000 investment.