Orem Police Warn of Uptick in Vehicle Burglaries

OREM, Utah — A thief walks right up to a car, sees something valuable inside he wants.

He breaks a side window and just like that, he reaches in and quietly walks away in just a few seconds.

Fortunately, this thief is a police officer and the car is from the wrecking yard, but police say it is a scenario that has played out a lot in recent days in Orem.

“The weather starts to get warmer, auto burglaries pick up and here in the last couple of weeks, we have had dozens of victims here just in Orem,” said Lt. Craig Martinez, with the Orem Police Department.

But thieves don’t have to break the window, Lt. Martinez says we often make it easy for them, by leaving doors unlocked or sunroofs open.

WATCH: A car thief breaks out a window to steal valuables in just seconds. The thief is really Lt. Craig Martinez with @OremDPS Hear his warning to car owners on @KSL5TV at 6. pic.twitter.com/QRBxagSPuS

— Sam Penrod (@KSLsampenrod) April 11, 2019

“They are walking around looking in windows, seeing what is in there and deciding if they want to break-in into the car or not,” said Lt. Martinez.

Trained thieves can pop a lock to steal common items they will try to sell.

“It’s gym bags, purses, a checkbook, medication iPhones, GPS’s anything that you are leaving in plain view, these guys want,” he added.

Police say keep those valuables with you, put them in the trunk or under the seat. Having them out of view will make your car less of a target to any would-be thief.

“Until we keep those valuable items out of our cars, they are going to continue to be broken into and there is nothing we can do about it,” he said.

Police say in most cases it is difficult to recover stolen items, unless you have recorded your serial numbers, they say it is easy to do and will assist them through the investigation.