TEMPLE, TX — Police are urging people to lock their car doors and hide their valuables.
25 News spent some time diving into the number of car thefts and break-ins reported so far this year in Bell County.
Temple Police said there has been a recent uptick in these type of crimes throughout the city.
One Temple mom said her family has experienced three car break-ins within the last few years alone.
Melissa Lee said her family lost more than $2,000 because thieves decided to break into their cars.
"Anything of value, they took out of the truck and they broke almost everything in the truck in the process," Lee explained. "And things that you don't consider is, okay, the insurance replaced some of it, we met our deductible but then other things happen. Like I said, they completely ruined the wiring, they broke the dash."
She is not alone. So far this year, Temple police have responded to 36 car burglaries and 33 stolen vehicle reports.
"Investigators are trying to look into ways to combat these types of incidents from happening," said Chris Christoff, media relations specialist for the Temple Police Department. "There's not really any sort of information indicating a pattern in these types of crimes, but we just want to make folks aware that you know it's happening throughout the city."
And it's not just Temple...
We took a look into the numbers for other Bell County cities.
So for this year, Belton has had 33 burglary of motor vehicle reports and 6 auto thefts.
For Salado, the numbers stand at two car burglaries and one theft of a vehicle.
And in Killeen, police have received just over 100 Burglary of motor vehicle reports this year alone.
Some also warn that you might reconsider keeping a garage opener in your car. They said that if a thief breaks into your car, they now have access to your house.
And Lee has some advice of her own..."everybody get cameras everybody needs cameras now."
