JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It seems like a simple thing, lock your car doors when you leave your vehicle, but according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, some people are not doing it.
MORE: Hundreds of guns stolen from local cars in the last 2 years
Officer Christian Hancock said people can help the community out by locking their doors.
“So auto burglaries have been historically an issue, not so to auto themselves more importantly, the guns that people leave in autos,” Hancock said.
This is video of people opening car doors and taking whatever they could find, including guns in a Jacksonville subdivision.
In 2021, 27-year-old Caroline Schollaert was shot and killed when she caught a man trying to burglarize her car as it was parked outside her Riverside home. Police say Tyree Parker shot her using a gun that had been reported stolen from a car days earlier.
JSO said that as of April 10, 693 car burglaries occurred, and 404 of those cars were left unlocked.
Police said 89 guns were stolen, and 75 of those guns were from unlocked cars.
According to JSO data, there were 149 auto burglaries with firearms stolen this time in 2024. There are 109 in 2025, which brings it down by 26%.
JSO data also says that in 2025, there are 100 auto burglaries with unlocked doors or no forced entry. There are 25 burglaries with locked doors or forced entry.
JSO has been reminding people for years, at 9 p.m., to lock their doors. It’s a campaign that reminds people to lock their car doors before going to sleep for the night.
Some everyday people said they lock their doors everyday.
Haley Thomas said she was surprised to hear people don’t lock their car doors.
“I guess a little bit, yeah you would think that it would be instinct for people,” Thomas said.
Lizeth Chica shared the same sentiment.
“Yes, why wouldn’t they [lock their car doors]?” Chica said.
Hancock said people make mistakes and forget to lock their doors.
“We all do, and unfortunately the gravity of leaving a firearm in a vehicle, leaving that vehicle unattended and unlocked, you have open not yourself but our community up to no good whatsoever, because those firearms taken out a vehicle they are never used in a good situation,” Hancock said.
