SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Police Department is urging community members to not leave holiday shopping items and other valuables in their vehicles ahead of Christmas.
"You know, one of these car burglaries can take just a matter of seconds for someone and you could be out hundreds if not thousands of dollars,” said SLCPD spokesman Brent Weisberg.
With Christmas just days away, many are still out and about shopping, but police want people to be aware of what they leave in their cars.
“This is a really unfortunate situation for these people who had their holiday belongings, their holiday gifts, stolen," said Weisberg.
Sunday morning, Salt Lake City Police responded to a call about people looking into cars in the area near 2700 S. Elizabeth Street.
“Received a call from a community member who actually got an alert on his phone saying that his exterior camera at his house detected motion. He opened up his camera app and saw that there were two people going through cars in his neighborhood,” said Weisberg.
Now, the department is urging community members to think twice before you leave valuables in your car.
"We want people to slow down during the holiday season to make sure that they’re taking all of their valuables, especially their holiday gifts, out of their car,” said Weisberg.
He suggested that people leave their vehicles "showroom ready."
"That means taking down GPS devices hiding those electronic cords that may be in your car, keeping your car showroom clean, making sure that there’s nothing in your car,” said Weisberg.
Another suggestion is to avoid leaving shopping bags in your car.
“Things that people can do is they can ask a store to hold their bags for them while they finish out their shopping and then when you’re all set and done, you can go collect those bags,” said Weisberg.
Prevention is key to keeping your belongings safe.
“A lot of people are going to be doing some last-minute shopping. It’s inherent as part of the holiday season but we want people to remember that you should never put your bags in your car while you’re at a shopping center," said Weisberg.