A handful of vehicle thefts and burglaries has promptedBrookhaven police officials to remind the public to lock theirvehicles and keep valuables out of sight, especially during theholiday season.

“There were a few this past weekend,” said Brookhaven PoliceChief Pap Henderson, adding that two vehicles were taken lastFriday, and one in early December.

There was a 2003 Ford F-350 truck taken from the Wal-Martparking lot on Dec. 3. On Dec. 12, a 2008 Ford F-150 was taken fromthe Broma’s/Mitchell’s parking lot and a Ford F-250 was taken fromthe Cracker Barrel parking lot.

In all three cases, Henderson said, the keys were left in thevehicles and the doors were unlocked. None of the vehicles havebeen recovered.

“I talk to people every day about not leaving the keys in theirvehicles,” he said. “I have talked to people about not leavingvaluables in plain sight – purses, cameras, laptop computers.That’s inviting criminals to get into your car.”

In addition to the three stolen vehicles, there have beenincidences of guns and purses and other valuables left in plainsight were taken from cars.

“Locking the vehicle won’t always stop a thief,” he said. “Butyou can cut down on the chance of being broken into by putting yourvaluables away.”

Sometimes in a peaceful community like Brookhaven, people tendto be too trusting, Henderson said. When a large part of thecommunity is honest, it is often a forgotten fact that there arestill professional criminals, Henderson said.

“The people of this town and county need to understand that alarge percentage of us get up and go to work every day to make adecent living, but we still have a small percentage of people whodon’t,” he said. “Some people actually go through the large parkinglots looking for purses, unlocked doors and cars to steal.”

Henderson said investigators believe the vehicle thieves to befrom out of town based on the way the crimes were committed.

“We know these are people from out of town,” he said. “We knowthat for a fact. We’re working on some information we’ve got andwaiting on some paperwork – some records we had to subpoena.”

And the holiday season is a prime time for people to travel fromtown to town taking valuables, because they’re hard for localjurisdictions to track. In addition, everyone needs some extra cashduring Christmas time.

“Especially during this time of year, these people are outthere,” Henderson said. “We need the public’s help in taking thekeys and valuables out of their vehicles.”

Anyone with any information on any auto theft or burglary cancall Lincoln County Crimestoppers at (601)823-0150 or theBrookhaven Police Department at (601) 833-2424.