Thieves have been taking advantage of unlocked cars in Oakwood, Centerville and Washington Township during the past two months.

There have been almost three dozen thefts from unlocked vehicles in Oakwood since Aug. 1. There were 14 on a single night, Sept. 23, in Centerville and a half dozen on the night of Sept. 20 in Washington Twp.

Police are pursuing leads and comparing information.

“We feel like park rangers advising the public not to feed the bears. If the food is made so easily available, they’re going to take it,” said Oakwood Maj. Randy Baldridge. “Park in a well-lit area, lock your vehicle and take your valuables inside.”

Capt. Dee Osterfeld of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Dept. office said Washington Twp. “has intermittent spurts of this kind of crime.”

Oakwood has been a recurring target.

There were 22 thefts from parked vehicles in Oakwood between Aug. 2 and Sept. 10. “They’ve slowed somewhat since, but are still occurring,”said Oakwood Maj. Randy Baldridge. Despite police advisories, some residents continue to leave valuables unsecured in their cars.

Oakwood Police questioned “a known thief” who was encountered in the community on Sept. 23, “but we didn’t have anything to hold him on,” Baldridge said. “The next morning, an officer found a bag with several GPS units and other items very close to where the subject had been stopped.”

The investigation is continuing but no charges have been filed.

Loose change, smart phones and laptop computers have been taken. A car was stolen in Washington Twp., during a spate of thefts in the Mark Dale Drive and Evans Lane area east of Mad River Road and north of West Whipp Road.

“Some complacency comes with living in a nice area with a low rate of crime,” said John Davis, community relations officer for the Centerville Police. “For the most part, these are preventable crimes of convenience. Lock your vehicle. It’s just that simple.”

The crimes usually are committed between midnight and 5:30 a.m. “The last time we arrested someone for going through cars was in June. It was 5:09 a.m. and he had his evening’s worth of work with him,” Baldridge said.

The last dozen thefts in Oakwood have taken place all over the city, from Runnymede Road and Oakwood Avenue to Garden Road, Roanoke Avenue, Acorn Drive and Wonderly Avenue.

On Sept. 9, a Claranna Avenue resident found her glove compartment open in the morning, her wallet missing and spare change gone. According to the Oakwood Police report, several purchases totaling $225 were made with one of her credit cards at Sammy’s Food Mart on South Smithville Road in Dayton, about two miles away.

On Sept. 23, a Cincinnati man who parked his vehicle overnight on East Schantz Avenue near Patterson Road, found his dashboard had been damaged during an attempt to take the radio and about $10 in loose change gone from the center console.

When an East Peach Orchard Avenue man’s laptop, owned by his employer, was taken from his car in late August, he heard nothing and neither did neighbors interviewed by police. Valued at $1,500, it has not been recovered.

The Centerville incidents were in the Red Coach plat between Whipp and Rahn roads east of Marshall Road.

Authorities urge residents to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior, but not to confront the suspect. “Call us,” Baldridge said. “In most cases when we make an arrest for a situation like this, it’s because a resident has seen something and called us.”