Car break-ins and other property crime on the rise in Austin
Austin police say property crime is up across the city and that includes car break-ins. Crooks are breaking into vehicles to get smartphones, computers and garage door openers. The garage door openers give them a chance to steal what's inside your vehicle and what's inside your house. It's why one mom in southwest Austin says she never leaves a garage door opener or anything else in her car.
“My husband's truck got broken into,” said Courtney Turner. “It was frustrating.”
Turner has lost count of how many times her car and her husband's truck have been burglarized over the past 10 years.
“It makes you feel like you have just been, just violated in this weird way,” said Turner.
That history makes it even harder for the mother of two girls to hear Southwest Austin is being targeted by car burglars, again.
On Monday, Austin police used the Nextdoor app to alert Southwest Austin neighborhoods that there have been 11 reported vehicle break-ins so far this month.
Turner has lived in Legend Oaks since 2009.
“It's such a wonderful neighborhood,” said Turner.
But she wishes that she and her neighbors weren't so vulnerable.
“They walk down the street and try the door handles and if you accidentally leave your door open then they riffle through your stuff and take anything that they can,” said Turner.
Like many of her neighbors she's taking more precautions.
“We have security and we have a dog and we have a sign up about our dog. It seems to keep things down mostly,” said Turner.
The best protection is always locking car doors and eliminating any temptation to break in.
“We just don't leave anything in our cars anymore,” said Turner.
Austin police say in addition to the uptick in property crime, officers are also seeing more auto thefts where the keys were left in the vehicle. APD says always lock vehicle doors and take keys with you. In addition, APD says drivers should always take valuables with them or hide them BEFORE arriving at their destination.