WASHINGTON — In August 2022, Lyndon Bilal's new Toyota was brazenly stolen by a man driving a tow truck. The car was never found.
Ten months later, gunmen fired at least 18 shots near Bilal's house in the 3600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE.
Finally early Thursday, two men in an SUV propped up the car Bilal bought to replace the one that was stolen, and made off with the car's custom wheels. They left the car sitting at the curb in undrivable condition.
All of it was caught on a Google Nest camera that Bilal says he installed with the help of a D.C. rebate program to fight crime by spreading more cameras around the city.
But Bilal claims that police have not followed up by looking at the video on his cameras.
"We need some people out there to investigate these criminals or these cameras are not a deterrent," Bilal said after a heavy sigh. "The theft of my car and the recent theft of my tires, I don’t believe they used the video at all.”
D.C.'s camera rebate program has reimbursed residents at least $3 million since 2015, according to the District's webpage.
DC Police said they were looking into records of Bilal's claims, but were unable to provide information in the short time available Friday when Bilal brought his complaints to WUSA9's attention.
Police reported the auto theft by tow truck case has been marked "inactive."
Auto thefts have seen a dramatic increase from 1,399 in the first six months of 2022 to 3,048 for the same period in 2023, according to crime statistics posted by the city.
Theft from autos are also slightly increased from 3,274 to 3,289 for the period.
Bilal says he has lived in his home for 30 years and is as frustrated as ever with climbing crime. He said he had hoped the cameras would deter more crime, but he doesn't think it's working.