On May 19, officers received 14 reports of thefts from cars parked outside hotels and apartment complexes across town. Most of the crimes occurred at or near the intersections of Walnut Street and Dillard Drive and Harrison Avenue and Maynard Road.

The target: global positioning system, or GPS, devices used to navigate from Point A to Point B. According to pcworld.com, the devices can range in value from $100 to $600, depending on the features.

“It’s a crime of opportunity,” Capt. Michael Williams of the Cary Police Department said of such thefts. “It’s something that doesn’t take a lot of time to do.”

He added, “[Thieves] have easier pickings when there are a lot of cars parked together. They can blend in easier and are not noticed as much as they might be in a residential area.”

What’s worse, said Williams, is that vehicle owners pay twice for a criminal’s transgressions. Drivers who are at least wise enough to lock their car doors not only lose their investment in the stolen property but also pay for the repair of shattered windows.

“The sad part about this kind of crime is that it causes about twice the amount of damage as the cost of the actual GPS unit,” Williams said. “Then the consumer is usually just left to list it as a claim on their insurance.”

Meanwhile, he said, the criminal profits. “It’s one of those things where [thieves] can get about 25 percent of the original value on the street for them,” Williams said.

“Unless people record the serial number from the device, it’s hard to find that it has been stolen,” he added. “Even if we run across a bunch of them, it’s often hard to know exactly whose they are.”

In addition to selling stolen devices on the street or at flea markets, Williams said thieves also take advantage of modern technology to profit from their crimes. “Very few of these devices are ever pawned,” he said. “Most of them are sold either on the street or through sales on Internet sites like Craigslist or eBay.”

To help prevent these types of crimes, police strongly recommend that residents not leave valuables or cash inside their cars.