A recent trend of auto burglaries has police in Jacksonville Beach and Atlantic Beach on the offensive.

Jacksonville Beach saw a 34 percent increase in auto burglaries between 2015 and 2016, the highest increase the department has seen in recent years. They accounted for more than half of the 500 total burglaries recorded last year.

Atlantic Beach recorded 112 auto burglaries and 29 cases of car thefts in 2016. This year the department already has 21 reported auto burglaries and six reported car thefts. Interim Police Chief Victor Gualillo said auto burglaries usually spike around the winter holidays, but the department has seen a change in the past year.

It runs in just strange spurts, Gualillo said.

Jacksonville Beach Police Department spokesman Sgt. Thomas Crumley said the department started noticing this trend in September.

To the south, Ponte Vedra Beach has also experienced a spike in auto burglaries in the past two years. St. Johns County Sheriffs Office reports a 57 percent increase in Ponte Vedra Beach between 2015 and 2016. The number of reported auto burglaries spiked from 84 in 2015 to 132 in 2016.

Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, said car burglaries are the No. 1 crime in St. Johns County and among the most common crimes in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Authorities in all three areas report that unlocked cars and leaving valuables in unlocked cars are the top two causes of auto burglaries. Mulligan and Crumley said unlocked cars are an easy target for criminals, as it means easier access and less chance for them to set off car alarms.

Young adult men are the suspects of most auto burglaries. Often going to different areas in groups, two or three people in the group will pull on the door handles of cars and will quickly go through any cars that are unlocked. This can mean taking things from a few dollars in change to valuables such as laptops, wallets or guns. In Atlantic Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach, there have been some reported cases where cars have been left unlocked with the keys in the ignition or in the car.

If its an unlocked car, and all you get is the change, its two or three dollars out of every car, Crumley said.

The Jacksonville Beach Police Department restarted its Lock It or Lose It campaign in September in response to raising auto burglaries. Authorities urge people to lock their cars and take any valuables especially handguns with them to discourage potential criminals and help police curb this trend.

I think that the harder we make it on them, potentially theyll find another path and another area to look at, Mulligan said.

Tiffanie Reynolds: (904) 359-4450

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Beaches law enforcement combats recent auto burglary trend ... - Florida Times-Union