Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat shared this photo after a thief broke into his car at an Atlanta restaurant. (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)
ATLANTA - Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said whoever smashed the back window of his car while he was at a restaurant this week will be caught due to the evidence they left behind.
The sheriff and his wife spoke about the incident on their Facebook vlog page called "Life with the Labats" on Friday evening.
"When we talk about my car, in particular, getting broke into, you know, crime is everywhere," Sheriff Labat said in an online video Friday evening. "It is not… No one is exempt from it unless you stay in your shell and stay in your house.
Sheriff Labat said he was out a Mexican restaurant along Howell Mill Road having dinner with former Atlanta Police Chief George Turner.
"We finish eating, we go out, and as we get near the car, and see what most of y’all have seen online, the back window was smashed," the sheriff said. "They take a sparkplug and they slam it again the window and it cracks the window."
Sheriff Labat said the thief tried to smash the front passenger window. It didn’t work, but still left a mark. They then hit the back window and were able to get it to shatter.
"I’m not the first person this has happened to, it’s happened plenty of times, and with that in mind, something I want people to know, because it’s been all over social media. You know, ‘the sheriff got got,’ ‘the sheriff is a victim,’ you know all of that," the sheriff said.
No weapons were in the car, the sheriff said. The thieves got away with his wife’s tote bag which she uses to supplement her handbag but she said it didn’t have much of value inside. She believed it was safe to leave it in there because windows were tinted.
"I never leave my bags in the car, I really never do, and also never open the trunk and visibly put something in there and then walk off because obviously, that’s not smart either," she said. "I will just take both bags in with me in most of the time, but for some reason, last night I just felt like it’s really nothing in here and I could push it under."
Security was on duty at the time, but there were not many cameras in the parking lot. The sheriff said the nearby Walmart had similar break-ins which declined after installing more cameras.
"I don’t know who broke in, I don’t know any of that, but here’s what I do know, they let some fingerprints behind," the sheriff said. "I would encourage someone to turn themselves in. Because we are absolute, as we have for the last seven months, since me being sworn in, are going to be focusing on making sure that crime our top priority. We want to make sure this doesn’t continue to happen."
"We are going to find out who did this," he added.
The sheriff had come from a symposium discussing new ways area law enforcement and district attorneys could team up to fight crime.
The sheriff said many of these types of thieves are technologically savvy and know how to pop the locks and even start cars without keys.
Turner joined the sheriff and his wife for the Facebook live discussion. The couple also spoke to Atlanta City Council Member Dustin Hillis about crime.
They talked about ways to tackle car break-ins including the use of "bait cars".
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