Pickup truck and large SUV owners should be especially careful, as thieves are targeting these types of vehicles in the latest round of automobile break-ins. Two more people were victimized over the weekend as offenders popped the locks on their vehicles in a local restaurant parking lot and took their valuables.
    Statesboro Police Capt. Scott P. Brunson said detectives are aggressively investigating the break-ins. Several occurred last week in the College Plaza area, Pittman Park Church and Olive Garden parking lots, he said.
    Over the weekend, two more people found their belongings missing after someone entered their vehicles in the Olive Garden parking lot. Thieves took a study Bible, iTouch, iPad and charger  from one man’s truck, while another victim lost a purse and its contents, according to police incident reports.
    Brunson said the recent rash of automobile break-ins have involved pickup trucks or SUVs, and the offenders are somehow popping the locks of the vehicles in order to enter. The victim’s vehicles have mostly been locked, he said.
    Brunson advises citizens to keep valuables in safer places, not inside cars or trucks, and if something of value must be kept in your vehicle, “Keep it out of plain sight or in your trunk.”
    Parking in a well-lighted, open area where your vehicle is easily seen by others may deter potential thieves as well, he said.
    Anyone with information about the entering auto incidents, or any other crime, is asked to call the Statesboro Police Criminal Investigations Division at (912) 764-1542, he said. “All calls will remain confidential.”
    Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.