ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – St. Johns County is one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. However, according to the sheriff's office, something the number of gun thefts in the county is growing as well.
It’s a worrisome trend and a Neighborhood Crime Alert we’ve been reporting about for months. The St. Johns County sheriff's office reported many of these guns are taken from unlocked cars.
In many of these cases, the thieves were just going from car to car, pulling on the door handles to see if they're unlocked.
Here's a breakdown of the numbers from the Sheriff's Office:
- In 2017, 72 guns were taken during car burglaries. The sheriff's office says of those, 64 were taken from unlocked cars.
- In 2016, 58 guns were stolen. Of those, 55 were taken from unlocked cars.
- In 2015, the numbers of car burglaries and guns stolen were even lower.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been regularly posting the #9PMRoutine on their social media accounts to get people on board with locking their car doors and removing valuables from their cars, especially guns.
In December, JSO reported 521 guns were stolen from unlocked cars in 2017.
The St. Johns County Sheriff's office says the majority of these burglaries are happening at night. This is another reminder for people to make sure to lock up.