The Boerne Police Department is reminding residents to lock their car doors after a rash of vehicle burglaries and thefts in recent months.
Boerne Police Facebook
San Antonio Express-News
Ricardo Delgado, San Antonio Express-News, Staff writer
An increase in car burglaries and thefts has Boerne police officials reminding residents to make sure they are locking their car doors.
The Boerne Police Department said in a Facebook post this week that the Hill Country city has seen a recent jump “in vehicle burglaries and stolen vehicles.”
June saw six vehicle thefts reported and there have been five reports of burglary of a vehicle since June 25, according to city spokesperson Chris Shadrock.
“Unfortunately, this type of crime is not new to Boerne and is common across Texas,” Shadrock said in an emailed statement. “Over the past several years we have seen events where suspect (s) target multiple vehicles in a single night and in almost all instances the vehicles were not locked.”
To date, 44 vehicles have been burgled in Boerne this year, according to Shadrock. That has almost eclipsed the 47 in all of 2018 and puts Boerne on pace to match last year’s total of 89.
Through the end of June, 17 vehicle thefts were reported in Boerne, according to the city, with six reported stolen in both March and June.
Back in 2008, 14 auto thefts were reported for the whole year. The numbers were in the single digits between 2009 to 2011, according to Boerne’s annual police reports.
Excluding December, 50 motor vehicle thefts were reported in 2022, compared with 37 in 2018.
Burglaries of motor vehicles are classified as larceny in the Boerne Police Department’s activity reports, according to Shadrock. He said many of the incidents are occurring in areas close to Interstate 10.
“(When) suspects come to Boerne from other communities they tend to target neighborhoods and hotels closer to I-10,” Shadrock wrote. “Given these types of crimes occur cyclically, when we see an initial uptick, we do have our patrol officers increase their presence in areas that are commonly impacted. ”
Boerne’s population has grown rapidly recent years, surging from 10,471 in 2010 to an estimated 20,707 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.