SILVERTHORNE — Police are investigating a recent rash of car break-ins around the Silverthorne Pavilions and Rec Center, and are urging residents to lock their cars when parking in public places.

“A real issue here is education,” said Silverthorne Police Chief Mark Hanschmidt. “A lot of people still believe that living in Summit County means you can leave your doors unlocked, and sadly it’s not like that anymore.”

According to Chief Hanschmidt, the break-ins started about three weeks ago and police arrested three suspects that were caught in the act of trying to beak-in to a vehicle.

“We now think that we are dealing with several different groups of people,” said Hanschmidt, citing that he didn’t think that the suspects arrested were related to the most recent break-ins.

The break-ins have been concentrated primarily in the parking lots adjacent to the Silverthorne Rec Center and Pavilions, occurring during the peak hours of the day, in broad daylight.

“We think it’s individuals passing by cars and seeing purses or other valuable items laying out in plain sight,” said Hanschmidt. “These are crimes of opportunity and when they see something of value they root around in unlocked vehicles.”

According to Hanschmidt, several of the break-ins have been “smash and grab” jobs, leaving some damage to the vehicles involved.

“Obviously this is an important issue that the police are working on,” said Ryan Hyland with the town of Silverthorne. “Those are our building so we don’t like to hear that happening.”

While police could not comment on the particulars of the investigation, officers have been patrolling parking lots in the Silverthorne area and leaving notices on cars they find unlocked.

<i>Ashley Dickson can be reached at (970) 668-4629, or at adickson@summitdaily.com.</i>