Police in Delray Beach are taking extra steps to keep thieves from breaking into your car. This comes after a spike in the number of break-ins.
“They tore it apart,” said Patrick Pinto standing outside his fiancee’s car.
He said someone opened the unlocked car overnight two weeks ago and stole a wallet from the center console.
“It’s not good, it's not good at all. Your heart kind of drops,” he explained.
Delray Beach police launched an intensified effort to get ahead of this growing problem. Officers are focusing on the people like the ones who stole from Pinto and his fiancee.
“It seems like criminals are using people's cars as their own personal bank,” said Lt. Robert Keating.
According to Keating, the city sees about three car break-ins every day.
Now the department is refocusing on a strategy called intelligence led policing. Officers gather evidence from crime scenes, keep tabs on repeat offenders, and set up extra patrols in areas burglars have hit.
“10 percent of the people commit 90 percent of the crimes, so what we try to do is focus on that 10 percent,” Keating explained.
Many people still don't take the simplest, preventive steps like locking their car doors and removing anything that looks valuable.
Keating looked at a dozen cars parked in a downtown parking garage today. All were locked, but two had cash sitting in plain sight.
“That's an invitation for a break-in,” Keating said.
Pinto and his fiancee learned the hard way how easy it is to become a target. It's a painful lesson they say they won't forget.