Car thefts on the rise in San Marcos

I was a bit perplexed. I think when I first saw it, I just had a shocker to my body. I've never dealt with that before. Sean Markovich had dropped his car off at a San Marcos auto shop, leaving it there for a little more than a week. When he came back, he found someone had broken into it. I'm definitely glad nothing was stolen out of it and also the vehicle wasn't stolen. Lucky for Markovich. But San Marcos police say his story is a reminder of how quickly a car break in can turn into something more. San Marcos police took 49 stolen vehicle reports in May, June and July this year. That's one more than during the same time period last year and many happening at hotels along I-35. Detective Casey Tennant says summer can bring a bump in auto crime. The younger generation is out of school. They have more time on their hands and so that will cause some of our juvenile crimes to go up. And then also we have a transient population of students that will sometimes leave town and not realize their property is broken into or stolen for extended period of time. Detective Tennant says part of the problem is opportunity. The car is left unlocked. They'll check it to see if they can start it. They start the car and then all of a sudden burglary has now turned into a theft. San Marcos police say 38% of vehicles stolen in June and July were unlocked and nearly a quarter had the keys inside. Push button ignitions can make that mistake even easier. They'll leave it in a purse or they'll leave it in the center console and walk away from their vehicle. And now their vehicle is susceptible for anybody coming up and pulling the handle and trying to steal their car. And certain cars remain a popular target. We still see the key in I thefts are pretty prevalent here in this town. And then what do the thieves do with these cars? There's a group of people that will take them and do van swaps to change their identity and sell them to other individuals. And then some of them will leave them abandoned in very hard locations to find. And that could be after they use them for other crimes. Anytime there's a potential that these vehicles are used to commit other crimes or steal firearms and introduce them back into our population. I think those are the reasons that we want to get ahead of this crime as early as possible. Get some cooperation from victims. If we can get some of these numbers to be reduced down, it makes it a lot easier to focus on some of the other offenses that are underlying with the auto theft that occurs other burglaries and other crimes that get committed.