Carrboro Police are investigating multiple vehicle break-ins with a common theme.

Carrboro Police Captain Chris Atack says authorities were alerted of three incidents in relatively close proximity from late Friday evening through Saturday night mainly on the southwest end of Carrboro and along the Highway 54 corridor.

“We had two vehicles at separate locations that were broken into” Atack says. “Both of them were unlocked. People rifled through the vehicle. No items were taken that the owners were able to identify at the time.

“The third incident was a scooter that was in the process of being stolen when someone actually witnessed it and was able to chase off the folks that were stealing it.”

Atack says that scooter was recovered as well as a second scooter which had been stolen. He adds an investigation is still ongoing into those thefts.

Atack says the vehicle break-ins appear to be suspects pulling handles.

“There will be folks that go around and just try door handles in parking lots and other places and just see what happenstance will bring them,” Atack says.

Atack adds the time of year may be having an influence on the attempted robberies.

“As you come into the holiday season, certainly there is a belief that there may be better goodies inside of a car,” he says. “We do seem to see certain kinds of crimes like this peak at certain times. But they also naturally have an ebb and flow.

“I can’t tell you which this is related to at this point.”

Atack says police encourage residents to lock their vehicles and remove any valuable items from the vehicle or at least move them out of plain sight.