Recent reports of burglaries from cars at a north Napa apartment complex and elsewhere serve as a reminder for residents to remove valuables from their vehicles and lock the doors, police said.

Vandals broke into several cars at Hawthorne Village Apartments last week.

The Napa Police Department also had a request for extra patrol Monday morning in another part of Napa that has been the scene of recent thefts, said Sgt. Don Honey.

While there hasn’t been a dramatic rise in car burglaries, they tend to occur in bunches, law enforcement officials said.

“They kind of happen in rashes,” said Napa Police Lt. Brian McGovern, the spokesman for the department. “We’ll get a whole bunch of them in one area and then someone will get arrested and that will kind of reduce it in that area.”

From Jan. 1, 2008, to Oct. 1, 2008, there were a total of 373 thefts in Napa from unlocked cars and burglaries to locked vehicles. So far this year, there have been 413 burglaries and thefts from vehicles.

While this is a slight increase, it doesn’t necessarily signify a trend, McGovern said.

Napa County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Tracey Stuart seconded the observation that the burglaries “run in spurts.”

The sheriff’s office usually finds cars that have been targeted in turn-outs in rural areas, such as near state parks or near Lake Berryessa.

She cautioned residents to deter would-be burglars by removing valuables from their vehicles and locking the doors. Often thieves walk alongside vehicles looking into the windows for anything to steal. When they see something, they strike, Stuart said.

“Criminals are lazy just like the rest of us, and if it takes some effort, they’ll move on to the next one,” she said.

Similar reports of two or three burglaries in one area come into the American Canyon Police Department from time to time, American Canyon Police Chief Brian Banducci said.

The concentration of burglaries in one area usually indicates they are linked, he said.

“It’s a good reminder for everybody to lock their cars,” he said.

Car burglars can be difficult to nab if no one sees the crime occur and the thief doesn’t leave fingerprints, law enforcement officials said. They often occur at night and are discovered long after the thief has fled.

Sometimes officers get lucky when they happen across a burglary in progress or a victim reports it right after it happens, McGovern said.

Car alarms can spook a burglar and prevent them from stealing anything as long as valuables are stowed away, he said.

Police have also found suspects in possession of stolen property and are able to track them back to car burglaries, he said.

Banducci encouraged residents to call law enforcement if they hear anything unusual or see someone suspicious walking around cars at night. “If it wakes them up and it’s different than they’re used, to then they need to call us,” he said.