Car Burglaries Are On The Rise, Here's How To Protect Yourself

It seems like this summer there have been more stories than usual about people having their cars cleaned out of their valuables.

Just this week Brick Police caught up with a man who was suspected of at least one car burglary.

But since July, we've seen the same story repeat itself in Ocean Township, Colt's Neck, Toms River, and just yesterday Marlboro.

There's one thing that most of these cases have had in common - almost all of the cars were left unlocked.

It seems like common sense to lock your car, but we've probably all had situations where our hands were full of groceries, kids, or all of the above, and we inadvertently leave our cars unlocked for a period of time. Maybe even overnight.

This is exactly what a car burglar looks for. And it doesn't matter what kind of neighborhood you live in.

Thieves can subtly walk around a neighborhood without attracting much attention, and just pull on handles. They get one that's unlocked, and bingo! No need to even break glass.

But that doesn't mean that they'd necessarily be against breaking glass.

Let's say that you leave your laptop sitting on your seat. Few things say "steal me" more than something left in plain view in an unattended car.

Police are telling the public to exercise common sense; lock your car, and hide valuables.

And of course, if you see something, say something.