Tampa police have seen increase in car burglaries--and they're not your typical smash and grab burglaries.
- Tampa PD using household item to deter car burglaries
- Police using magnets to remind people to lock doors
- Police see increase in car burglaries from unlocked cars
Police say these burglaries are where valuables are left out in plain site and the car door is left unlocked.
Tampa PD said these kinds of burglaries are plaguing certain parts of the city right now--nearly 300 of them since the beginning of the year.
Police are now trying a different method to help deter crime--and they're using magnets.
Police are hoping people will place these magnets on their fridge and remind them to lock their car doors.
"We've done a great job with crime reduction all throughout the city but the auto burglaries with unlocked doors still seem to be somewhat of an issue for us, so we are constantly pushing the message to lock your doors," Maj. Ruben Delgado said.
Police launched the program on Davis Island this week, where they've seen a big increase in car burglaries this year.
Police were handing out magnets to help remind people to remove valuables in your car out of plain site and to lock the doors.
"We just want to have them remember that even if it's for 5 minutes, you can't leave a person in the front seat of a car for 5 minutes, unlocked, because it just creates an opportunity we want to try and eliminate," Delgado said.
Police have also been patrolling neighborhoods at night, looking inside cars and checking to see if they are locked. If they aren't, police have been leaving notes to remind people to lock up their cars.