Texas-side police remind citizens to lock their car doors and take their keys with them when parking to deter criminals after data showed 31 vehicles stolen in the past two months-a 93 percent increase from June and July of last year.
"Actual year to date numbers are 76 vehicles (stolen) in 2015 and 84 in 2016, so we are only talking about 8 more cars," said Shawn Vaughn, TTPD spokesman. "However, the June and July numbers are more notable."
Vaughn posted to the department's Facebook page that Texas-side saw a 93 percent increase in auto thefts this year from June 1 through Wednesday (July 27) in comparison to the same two-month period last year.
Police estimated that about 80 percent of the vehicles stolen in the past two months have been because of people leaving their vehicles unlocked and the keys behind-many times still inside the ignition.
"The good news is that most are recovered within a few days and are returned to the owners," Vaughn said. "However, the truth is that most of these thefts probably would have never happened in the first place had the owner done two things."
"Lock the door. Take the keys," he added.
Usually, auto thefts are crimes of opportunity and are not how they are portrayed in movies and television shows, Vaughn said, where thieves go to great lengths to hot-wire a car to take, but represent more of an impulsive crime.
According to the data, simply securing the vehicle in the first place and taking out the keys could stop up to 80 percent of auto thefts-and that's just on the Texas side of Texarkana.
"We've all seen the recent videos on social media of people going car to car in the middle of the night trying the door handles," Vaughn posted Wednesday to the department's Facebook page.
"They typically pass on the ones that they can't get into," Vaughn wrote, adding that thieves are checking car doors to find "the easy target-the one that has been left unlocked. If they get lucky enough that they find the keys in there too, they are probably going to steal the car."
Kids as young as 12 have been caught in stolen vehicles recently and Vaughn said kids are responsible in many of the auto theft cases.
"As a matter of fact, we arrested two boys, who are 12 and 14-years-old, in a stolen car last Sunday," Vaughn said. "Please help us protect your property."
"Don't leave your vehicles unlocked or the keys in the ignition."