Chattanooga police officials are warning about a sharp increase in car thefts and in thefts from vehicles in the North Shore area and downtown.
In many of the incidents, vehicle owners made it easy for the thieves, said Police Department Capt. Jerri Sutton, who supervises officers in the downtown and North Shore areas.
"Of those thefts, we had about five where the keys were left in the car, and the car was in the driveway, from residential areas," she said at a press conference Wednesday.
In other theft cases, valuable items were clearly visible inside the automobile, Sutton said. "We are asking citizens to do due diligence and not make their vehicle an easy target," she said. "A lot of these vehicles had pricey items inside the car and that makes them a target. These thefts happened right in the open."
Sutton said the police department does not have any suspects in the thefts. She said three stolen vehicles were recovered last week, including an SUV valued at $90,000.
She warned that just because the current rash of break-ins and thefts occurred downtown and to the north does not mean they could not happen elsewhere in Chattanooga.
"Any place there is a target, there is a potential for crime," she said.
Police officers are paying extra attention to areas where the break-ins and thefts occurred and are leaving "doorhanger" leaflets on cars where they can see valuables or keys inside, Sutton said, to warn car owners that they are vulnerable.
Police received more than 475 complaints involving motor vehicle theft or theft from a vehicle in the first two months of 2017, according to the Chattanooga Open Data Portal.
Contact staff writer Steve Johnson at 423-757-6673, sjohnson@timesfreepress.com, on Twitter @stevejohnsonTFP, or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/noogahealth.