Austin car burglaries are up, and police say it's likely to worsen over the next couple of months.
Burglars are targeting apartment complexes, especially in Southeast Austin.
Over the past weekend, police say burglars broke into dozens of cars at one complex, and then moved on to the next one. Citywide, car burglaries are up 20 percent from average. It's 30 percent higher than this time in 2008 when car break-ins dropped.
Police don't know what's causing the spike, but they want to make sure people are aware.
Thursday morning, officers visited the same hot spot complexes in pairs. They looked through the parking lot with the eyes of a burglar: peering into car windows, looking for valuables.
Each time they wrote out a sort of citation -- something they call a mousetrap. It's a tan flyer where they can check mark the items they found in plain sight.
If it's something that can be pawned, they say it's something that could attract a burglar.
“They just won't target one car. They'll start at one end of the parking lot and go as far as they can before they think they're being caught or being too noisy. You think you'd get scared off by making that much noise, but I guess they take their chances,” said Southeast Area Command Officer Emily Abbink, APD.
APD says it can take a burglar less than two minutes to smash a window and grab whatever valuables they can see.
Technology equipment is a big target, including radars in the window, MP3 players, CDs and speakers.
Over the holiday season, break-in rates tend to rise. The key to protecting yourself from a break-in is simple enough: police suggest hiding your valuables under a seat or locking them in the trunk where someone walking by can't find them.
