Police: Don’t be a car burglary victim | Crime

A rash of car break-ins has police in Bettendorf asking folks to lock up their stuff.

Car burglaries have been reported all around town.

All it takes is an unlocked car door and a motivated criminal.

It’s a crime of opportunity that’s sweeping seemingly crime-free neighborhoods.

One quiet Bettendorf neighborhood found itself to be the unlikely a target of criminals after Tyler Edward’s vehicle was broken into.

“The visors were down,” said Edward. “I think they were looking for my keys, but didn’t actually take anything.”

His next-door neighbor wasn’t so lucky. He had a laptop stolen from his car.

“It’s probably something that’s happening out there with the bad economy and stuff like that,” he said.

Across town, neighbors on Hawthorne Street weren’t too shocked with the news that thieves broke into cars there.

“It’s a pretty ghetto street,” said Dustin Rupp, a neighbor.

“It’s not the best neighborhood in Bettendorf, but no neighborhood is the best,” said Megan Devine, another neighbor.

For the past two weeks, these car burglaries have happened in different parts of Bettendorf.

But, police say, they all have one thing in common- the doors were left unlocked.

That’s exactly how the suspects scouted out their target vehicles.

It’s one of the reasons Kali Bagby always locks his car doors.

“I got broken into like two years ago, so ever since then I have,” said Bagby.

Police say most of the burglaries happened at night.

No arrests have been made.

In addition to locking your doors, if you see anything suspicious in your neighborhood, you’re urged to contact police.