The Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department reports a spike in auto burglaries, but using equipment that is already standard on all vehicles could have prevented most of them.

Chief Deputy Shane Tucker said that in the past couple of weeks the department has worked about seven vehicle burglaries all over the county.

The problem is that every single one of them involved an unlocked vehicle.

“It’s very rare when we seen them break a window to get in,” Tucker said.

To his memory every single automobile burglary in the past couple of years has also involved an unlocked vehicle.

While the department is establishing suspects, the best thing residents can do to protect their valuables is lock their cars and homes.

Tucker said the days of leaving doors unlocked has passed.

Most of the items being taken out of the unlocked vehicles include prescription narcotics, cell phones, GPS units, change, cash, ipods, tablets, subwoofer systems, stereo systems and even firearms.

The crimes are occurring throughout the county, from north to south, Tucker said. Typically, the burglaries occur during the night when residents are asleep.

Victims don’t know they were robbed until they get in their car the following morning, Tucker said.

“We really want to get the message out of locking your vehicles,” Tucker said.