By William Thornton -- The Birmingham News
Football season may be over, but another form of tailgating seems to be taking place in the metro area.
At least eight law enforcement agencies in Jefferson County have reported tailgates being stolen from trucks in at least 16 instances over the past two weeks, with most of the thefts occurring in retail parking lots.
In Hoover, there have been six tailgates stolen over the last two weeks, with two taken in Inverness and three from shopping centers in and around Riverchase. In Trussville, three were stolen in the past week. In Leeds, two were reported stolen on Jan. 8 at the Shops at Grand River, while another was taken that same day on Weaver Avenue. Police in Birmingham, Irondale, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office also reported tailgates taken.
Capt. Jim Coker, a Hoover police spokesman, said tailgates are an easy target because they are relatively simple to detach from a truck and a valuable spare auto part, valued anywhere from $500 to $2,000. Having this many tailgates stolen in such a short time period is unusual just for one city, let alone several, he said.
"It would seem logical that this is somebody selling auto parts," Coker said. "What else can you do with a tailgate?"
Trussville Police Chief Don Sivley said he wasn't aware of the cases in other cities. "It's definitely something we're watching, though," Sivley said.
Coker said tailgate thieves are fairly easy to thwart -- just lock the tailgate.
"That makes it much harder to steal, and they're not going to be able to sell or use a damaged tailgate," he said. Another tip Coker offered is for drivers to engrave their vehicle identification number onto the tailgate so it can be traced if it is stolen and recovered.
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