South Austin Family worries recent car break-ins will lead to homes getting targeted

AUSTIN,Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - A south Austin family is fed up with thieves breaking into cars in their neighborhood.

They caught two of the incidents on camera and now they worry these crooks might start burglarizing homes, too.
    
“I just felt super violated that someone was in my personal belongings and felt like it was ok to enter into our personal property,” said Lindsey Sullivan who lives in south Austin.

Recently Sullivan said her car was broken into in her own driveway. Her cameras caught the whole thing.

“He just walks up and he's really bold, and ruthless, he's not shy about it at all, he doesn't cover his face or anything,” said Sullivan.

According to the surveillance video once the guy got inside he only spent about 3 minutes looking inside the car and left more items on the ground than what he took.

“Things from our truck were laying across our driveway and so my husband and I were like what happened,” said Sullivan.

After turning to police, Sullivan said they decided to look through their footage of previous nights.

“We looked back and found that this is the 2nd time he tried to enter our vehicle in the last 3 weeks. I think for this individual he looks like a young guy and I guess I would say it's not too late to turn your life around and make better choices,” said Sullivan.    

Sullivan shared the video with her neighbors where she learned she wasn't alone. “It sounded like he had hit a dozen different cars on the same night,” said Sullivan.

Back in November we told you how car break ins were up 24% across Austin, with the most happening in the southwest part of the city. Sullivan worries in this case, if it keeps up it may lead to more than just cars being broken into.

“If he's getting into all these cars and he's bold about it what's next,” said Sullivan.

APD and other agencies are pushing what's called a "9 PM Routine," where they encourage people to remove valuables from their cars- lock the doors and to turn porch lights on in the evening.