Which whey did they go? DeKalb police confirm reports of recent cheese slice prank on cars throughout city

DeKALB – There has been a prankster leaving cheese slices on people’s cars in the previous couple of days, DeKalb police confirmed Thursday.

DeKalb Police Cmdr. Jason Leverton said Thursday about five or six calls about people finding single cheese slices on their vehicles have come within the previous 48 hours. Leverton said the incidents have appeared to happen overnight in the last couple of nights.

“It’s just probably a cheap and easy commodity that people can get” and throw it on cars, Leverton said.

Leverton’s comments come after posts about an area “cheese vandal” in community groups on social media started to circulate recently.

Leverton pointed out there’s a difference between vandalism and a prank. He said police are classifying these incidents more so as a prank than acts of vandalism.

“A prank really does not cause any permanent damage,” Leverton said.

Though vehicle owners might have to wash windows or go through car wash from the cheese, Leverton said instances like these are usually not considered vandalism if you’re able to wash it off and there has been no other damage to the car, like a mirror being broken off or someone leaving footprints while trying to climb onto the car. Since cheese biodegrades, it’s not considered littering either, he said.

“But it seems like a random prank occurring throughout town,” Leverton said.

For the previous couple of days, Leverton said city police have gotten calls about the cheese slice prank from all three enforcement zones in the city.

“It does not seem to be isolated to a separate neighborhood,” Leverton said.

Leverton clarified there’s no other harm being done to the vehicles involved in the more recent calls. He said all of those vehicles were just parked on the street.

Even if there may be no crime involved and police wouldn’t necessarily create a formal police report about it, Leverton said there’s no harm in calling police about the pranks for informational purposes. He said he understands people might be concerned about any escalating behavior to follow.

“But we do kind of keep track as to where these things are happening”

Leverton said the cheese perpetrator hasn’t been caught in the act as of Thursday afternoon.

“It does seem to be as simple as assuming that it’s a prank with people throwing cheese on the cars,” Leverton said.