Spike in car break-ins prompts alert from St. Pete police

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - St. Pete Police are warning people to be on high alert, as the number of car break-ins have shot through the roof.

Public information officer Rick Shaw said towards the end of last year the number of car break-ins went up by 53 percent compared to 2015.  Shaw says they can’t pin down and exact reason for the spike.

“We are not really sure,” Shaw said.  “We do know that the vast majority of cars that were broken into towards the last part of 2016 had their doors unlocked.”

Looking your doors is a no brainier that many people forget.

Detectives say most of the time – it’s not adults, but kids that are responsible.

“It’s easier for a kid to try a door handle than to commit a robbery or break-in to a home,” Shaw said. “It’s a very easy type of criminal activity.”