Within a week of each other, two brazen thefts took place in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. — If you walk past the REI store in The Pearl District, you will see boarded up doors.

Portland police said on Black Friday someone used a car to break the entry door in order to steal clothing before leaving the scene. These brazen crimes seem to be happening more and more in the city. 

According to police crime statistics, in the first ten months of 2019 there were 35 cars stolen in the Pearl District. So far this year there's been 119.

When it comes to non-violent thefts and shoplifting, there were 791 reports in The Pearl within the first 10 months of 2019. In the first 10 months of 2022, the number is up to 933.

For assaults, there were 126 reported in the neighborhood in the first 10 months of 2019. That number is up to 197 so far this year.

Blake Schmidt lives in The Pearl and works at REI.

"It's frustrating, I work here at REI," Schmidt said. "I've seen a lot of changes here in the last couple of years, it's hard."

Over at Fastrak Fuel on Northeast Broadway in the Irvington neighborhood, police said two people used a white van to back into the gas station in order to get inside and steal the ATM. This happened early Tuesday morning.

After getting away with that crime, the suspects stopped in a parking lot on East Burnside where they tried to break into another ATM which caused a fire.

Matthew Warren, general manager at Fastrak, said that crime like this is very costly for businesses. 

"They drove through two shelves," Warren said. "They took out the Monster cooler, the Red Bull cooler and the shelves that had our Frito Lay products and candy products as well."

Police are still looking for the suspects and asking for the public's help. One of the suspects is wearing a distinct jacket officers believe could help identify them.

Anyone who has any information is asked to contact Detective Meredith Hopper at Meredith.hopper@police.portlandoregon.gov or -503-823-3408 and reference case number 22-317300.

If people are interested in viewing crime statistics, they can visit this website.