Albany Sees Uptick In Car Break-ins

In the year 2025 we live in a time where so many of us have some sort of camera on our front porch. It's there to make us feel better about what's going on when we're not at home. In some cases it's what happening when we are home, but maybe we're asleep.

One Albany resident caught a moment on video of an individual attempting to break into their locked vehicles near Whitehall Road. That particular area is near the Helderberg/Buckingham Lake neighborhoods.

In the video you can see the suspect go from car to car trying the doors to see if he can gain entry to the vehicles. As other users on Nextdoor pointed out, thank goodness they decided to lock their doors. As an Albany resident I feel very safe and comfortable in my home and neighborhood. That being said, I always lock my vehicle doors and especially my house doors. You can never be too careful.

This is just the latest video to show people trying to break into cars in Albany. Earlier in the summer people in my neighborhood of New Scotland reported seeing this same exact incident take place. In one instance a car was broken into because they didn't lock it, but all that was taken was some spare change.

Who is doing this?

My guess is teenagers. I don't want to be "that old guy" but I think it's teenagers up late just looking for a quick way to get money you may have left in your car. I don't think they're attempting to steam the vehicles, but I'm also not a police officer.

My suggestion is to just always lock your doors because you never know who is passing through your area. Even if you say "this never happens here" there's still a one percent chance that it might.

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This November there is an election in Albany for both the mayor and other city officials. I would challenge those that are running to take a tougher stance on these types of issues. Like Scruff McGruff used to say, "take a bite out of crime." In this case take that bite before it decides to bit you. Albany already has a reputation for those who don't live there as this crime ridden place. It is not, but let's also not let it become that either. Albany is a great city, with problems, but a great city to live in.