Locking cars won’t stop 100 percent of auto burglaries, but according to statistics by the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, it sure helps.

Between May 1 and June 29, the department received 90 reports of auto burglaries — items taken from cars and trucks — yet only eight of those were forced entry.

"The vast majority didn't lock their vehicle and somebody was able to walk by and take out some things that were of value to them and move on," said Coeur d'Alene Police Detective Jared Reneau. "It's definitely beneficial to lock your property."

Reneau said the department would like to partner with the community in a "lock it or lose it" campaign. The community will begin seeing signs and posters go up around town soon as a reminder that if drivers don't lock their vehicles — or their homes — they could lose valuable items left inside.

"If we work together to cut down on some of the property crime that we have, it will benefit all of us and we'll have a safer community," he said.

He said there is a mentality in the community that it is safe enough to leave cars and homes unlocked because it is small North Idaho town.

"While it's true that we live in a wonderful community that's relatively safe, we do still have property crime," Reneau said.

Reneau said police see the numbers of thefts and burglaries rise when the weather warms up, but it’s still important to lock vehicles and homes year-round. With holiday weekends like the Fourth of July, he said they don't specifically see numbers rise. Sometimes the numbers go up and sometimes they are lower during holidays, but the department does keep an eye out with so many people in town visiting family and vacationing because it "creates a bigger target."

Reneau said the public should not only lock their cars and homes, they should try to avoid leaving any valuable items in vehicles. If something must be left in the vehicle, it should be put out of sight because many thefts occur as a crimes of opportunity.

"If we do that, the number of burglaries that we have will substantially go down," Reneau said. "We want to do all that we can to try and help keep people safe and keep their property safe."