For the last 20 years Howard Kendall and his family have lived on 15th Street. Last Wednesday, just after 3 a.m., he and others in the normally quiet neighborhood were awakened by police because an alert neighbor heard a dog barking, looked outside and spotted someone going from car to car.

“They took some coins and a portable radio that I use at baseball games,” Kendall said.

“I am not so much angry, if I am angry at anyone, I am angry with myself for leaving the car unlocked. I am pleased they caught someone.” An 18-year-old was arrested in the case.

In Temple, there were 40 such burglaries in April, 91 in May and 74 in June. The figures haven’t yet been compiled for July but there were 12 alone in the early hours Wednesday.This crimeis preventable.

“Keep things out of sight in your car,” said Sgt. Allen Teston, Temple Police public information officer. “Don’t leave your phone and camera on the front seat. They are items that are easily taken and quickly sold.”

Teston said car radios are another item regularly taken from cars. “Often car radios are coded for a specific car. So stealing them is useless; they are not going to work and can’t be sold.”

Temple police recommend reporting suspicious people in your area. Officer Robert Mallett said in a recent Community Police Academy training class that many crimes can be stopped if the police receive reports from vigilant residents early. The police would much rather go out on a call for a suspicious person who might commit a crime than be called after the crime is committed.

Mallet is part of the Problem Oriented Policing or P.O.P.S unit and works with residents to help make their communities safer.

Progressive Insurance information officer Leah Mercer Knatt recommends checking the provisions of your car insurance.

“Most things that are not actually attached to the car are not covered in your insurance for the car. They may be covered by your home contents insurance,” Knatt said.

She, too, suggests not leaving anything in your car in view of passersby and that includes GPS systems.

“People will take their GPS system off the windshield and leave the mark from the suction-cap that it is attached with.” By doing that, the thief has a pretty good idea there’s a GPS system somewhere in the car.

Progressive recommends not even placing it on the front window.

“A window is easily broken, the system is taken and taken to a pawn shop,” Knatt said. “That’s easy money for those that need it.”

Teston said the usual places for vehicle burglaries are parking lots or apartment complexes.

“Usually where there are a few cars in the area when the thefts occur,” he said.

And rarely is just one vehicle broken into, Teston said.

Joshua Hernandez, 18, of Temple was the young man arrested and charged with burglary of a vehicle with intent to commit theft in connection with the 15th Street burglaries. He was taken to Bell County Jail and released later Wednesday on $2,500 bail.

A woman on 15th Street lost CDs and a cell phone in the burglaries. She talked about it, but didn’t want her name mentioned because of the fear of retaliation.

“Well, I have learned a lesson the hard way,” she said. “We should always take loose valuables out the car. The same goes for IPods and cameras, we have so much ‘stuff’ that we use everyday,” she said. “How often are we told to lock up our cars and make sure the windows are up. I was just speaking to a friend that had her handbag stolen from the front seat of her car when she went in to pay for gas. She left the car for one minute and it was gone.”

As for Kendall, he said he was sitting inside earlier Tuesday when he realized his car was unlocked. “I thought about locking it. It is sitting right outside the window under a light - I just didn’t think about it again.

“It’s more aggravating than angering. It’s the way society is. No one respects other people’s property any more.”