MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis and Shelby County law enforcement are seeing an increase in auto burglaries.

“At least for the past four weeks, we’ve been able to identify a 58% increase in motor vehicles,” Captain Anthony Buckner with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said.

Buckner says the sheriff’s office is doing everything it can to find the suspects.

“Our detectives are looking at these cases, case by case, individual by individual. We are lifting finger prints to see if we connect these finger prints to see if we connect them to who’s responsible for these auto burglaries,” Buckner said.

In the city, car break-ins are also a growing problem.

The Memphis Police Department’s crime tracker shows 605 car break-ins for the month of April, which is a hundred more compared to April of 2019.

Within this past week, there were almost 100 reports.

One of the hot spots we noticed is in the downtown area. After searching through police reports, WREG found some cars were unlocked and thieves took things like money, tools, electronics and a gun.

MPD Director Michael Rallings addressed crime during a COVID-19 Task Force briefing on Monday.

“Month to date, when we look at our violent crime, we did see an up tick in violent crime. Year to date, there hasn’t been a big change,” Rallings said.

Both Memphis police and the sheriff’s office are asking people to speak up if they see anything suspicious.

“With a lot of burglaries, individuals are leaving their vehicles unlocked,” Rallings said. “We are going to try to renew our campaign and say make sure you stow it, don’t show it and lock it or lose it.”

The crime commission reports home burglaries are drastically down due to more people spending time at home.