As the weather has become quite warm, more folks tend to leave windows open in cars, trucks and homes. This often creates an unwanted invitation to dishonest people to steal from others.

We are very fortunate in Hays to have relatively small numbers of home and car burglaries compared to most of America. Last year, according to the National Crime Prevention Council, there were once again more than 24 million personal and property crimes that cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States.

In Hays last year, we experienced 145 vehicle and house burglaries and 449 thefts. While these numbers are down from 2006 in Hays, the most troubling part of this is that the majority of burglaries take place without any signs of forced entry. This obviously suggests that the homes or cars were left unsecured in one way or another.

Home and car burglaries are often preventable if some simple steps are followed. For safeguarding anything left in your car or truck, always lock your doors and ensure your windows are closed. Anything of value, if not removed from the vehicle, should be placed out of sight or locked in the trunk.

If you park your car in a garage at home, please do not leave your keys in the vehicle. Typically, you have a house key attached to your car keys. If you leave your keys in the car and your car is burglarized, you have just given a potential car burglar access to your home. With keys in a vehicle, a thief merely intending to steal items from your car now has an unintended invitation to steal your car also.

There are many things that can be done to decrease your chances of being a victim of a home burglary. Ensure you have a deadbolt lock on all your exterior doors. A deadbolt lock is not usually the lock associated with the doorknob. This is a separate lock that is usually opened from the outside with a key and is opened from the inside by a thumbturn or a key.

If you ever tend to leave a window slightly open, you should have a means to lock the partially opened window in order to prevent a thief from opening the window enough to gain entry.

If you have sliding glass doors in your home, you should always have a locking device in addition to the flip latch associated with the door handle. You should have a special lock or bar to prevent lifting and prying of the sliding glass door. Even a wooden dowel or broom handle in the inside track will prevent the door being slid open if the burglar forces the lock open. Not all locks for doors and windows are created equal. If you have questions concerning locks, our local locksmiths and possibly hardware stores can be of assistance.

Other steps that will help protect your home include the following: Keep the hedges and bushes trimmed so thieves can't hide while breaking into your home.

If a yard is well maintained and allows a view of the home from most angles of the street or sidewalk, neighbors have a better opportunity to look out for each other and notice anyone out of the ordinary trying to gain entrance to a home. Knowing your neighbors and looking out for each other provides tremendous home security.

Lighting has been a proven, cost-effective measure to deter would-be thieves. Using motion sensor lights or dusk-to-dawn lights covering all sides of your home or business makes it difficult for a thief to hide while he tries to break through your locks on doors and windows.

And last, please don't hide a spare key under the doormat, planter, mail box or on top of the door frame. Thieves know these places and many more, as well as or better than you. If you need a spare key stashed somewhere, secure it with a trusted neighbor or friend.

The small steps we take each day to ensure our home and cars are locked, secure and uninviting to potential thieves are actually huge steps towards avoiding the horrible feeling when you have been victimized by a criminal.

Please do your part in neighborhood crime prevention -- lock your doors and look out for your friends and neighbors. When something looks suspicious or out of place, call the police.

Philip Hartsfield is assistant chief of the Hays Police Department.