Overland Park police are warning people that car burglaries are on the rise. There have also been several instances where firearms were stolen out of people’s vehicles.
Officials say the car burglaries are happening most often in parking lots. Since the beginning of the year, police say there have been 297 car burglaries in Overland Park, about a 6% increase from last year.
“It’s a problem,” said John Lacy, Public Information Officer for the Overland Park police department, “Guns have been stolen and a lot of times people are just getting inside the vehicle looking for anything.”
Sometimes the easiest option is to bring your firearm with you instead of leaving it in your car, but that’s not always an option.
“If you are a conceal carry holder and you have your firearm with you, there are a lot of places you can’t take your firearm inside,” said Mike Brown, CEO of firearm facility Frontier Justice.
Brown says when you buy a firearm at Frontier Justice you are typically advised to also buy a safe.
“Certainly you want to protect your own personal property, but you also want to protect it from getting into the wrong hands the best you can,” said Brown.
The shop sells several safes designed for when you need to leave your firearm in your car.
The safes range from $30 to several hundred dollars.
Police say if you are not willing to shell out the cash for a safe, you need to at least lock your firearm out of sight.
“If you feel you are going to leave your gun inside your vehicle, put it inside the glove compartment and lock it up,” said Lacy.
Police say most of the car burglaries in Overland Park have been on cars that were unlocked.
So the cheapest and easiest way to prevent your firearm, or other belongings from being stolen may be to simply lock your car.
