Cars are being stolen by opportunist thieves who are finding houses insecure and car keys in plain sight.
During the month of December, the Wilmslow area suffered 7 car key burglaries, whereby offenders entered houses to steal car keys and thus steal vehicles from the driveway.
This is a little higher than usual but it is not an epidemic by any means.
In six of these incidents, entry was gained to houses via insecure points of entry and all but one incident occurred during the night.
This means that some households are still going to bed leaving windows and doors insecure.
Police are advising residents to step up on your security especially if there is an expensive vehicle parked on your driveway.
In addition to leaving your properties insecure, Sgt Andy Miller said "People are leaving car keys in prominent positions when the best thing to do with them is put them out of sight.
"Draw your curtains and blinds at night, don't make things a bit easier by tempting people - smash and grab is sadly the new way of stealing cars because nowadays they cannot start them without the keys."
