ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. – They're counting on you to be focused on your child and not what's in your car. The Oakland County Sheriff's Department is putting out the alert after cars at multiple child care centers were targeted.
Thieves hang around waiting for parents to drop off their children. Most leave their cars unlocked while they take their children inside and most mothers leave their purses and other small electronics like phones and tablets in the front seat.
In the minute it takes you to go inside, they've already come and gone.
The sheriff's department thinks this is a group responsible for five break-ins of cars at child care centers throughout Orion Township and Rochester Hills. They also believe there may be a wider pattern in the metro area.
Just because you lock your doors doesn't mean you're safe, either. Leaving a purse and other valuables on a seat makes it easy for them to smash the windows and grab what's there.
Keep the purse out of reach and remember that thieves are inherently lazy. Make it hard on them and they'll go elsewhere.