Since Jan. 1, Of 22 Car Break-In Reports, 20 Were Unlocked: Cops

GUILFORD, CT — Police are blue ...in the face after repeating so often that the incidence of car break-ins could be significantly reduced if folks simply locked their car doors. Patch has written about local police pleas for drivers to lock their cars, take their keys and keep valuables out of sight.

Guilford Police have even shared videos of how thieves operate.

Officers are nice about it, but it's a drum so often banged that they'll soon need cymbals, maybe giant ones like are used in matching bands.

"Dear Guilford, We have to talk," police wrote on Facebook.

By Jan. 10, just 10 days into the new year, police said they had "22 reports of cars entered by criminals looking to steal. Of those 22 cars, 20 were unlocked, one of which had keys left in it and was stolen. The remaining two cars had high end valuables in plain view in the vehicles, which is why the criminals smashed the windows to enter the locked cars and take those items."

In previous posts, police have shared video of just how quickly a thief can run up on a car and check to see if door's are unlocked. If they are, a win for thieves. And apparently, they are more often than not, unlocked, even in driveways.

And in this video that shows how easy it is to foil a thief's plot: a locked door.

"We can’t stop all crime. We would love to say we could ...but that’s not realistic," police wrote. "What we can do is help stop these preventable crimes from happening with some simple advice."