With the spring upon us, more residents are likely to get out for walks and bike rides and enjoying the community parks.

With the increase in foot traffic on local roadways and sidewalks, not all of it will be of the positive variety. Clinton Police Chief Ben Lowers says this is the time of year when they see a spike in the vandalism and burglaries to personal property.

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According to the Chief, year after year, with the spring's arrival, their call volume increases. He says it is an up and down trend but encourages residents to be diligent in locking personal property, specifically homes and vehicles.

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The Chief encourages removing all valuables from your vehicle or to have them hidden out of view. Chief Lowers says the biggest factor though, is to just lock your doors.

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In the event your vehicle may have been burglarized but you suspect nothing was taken and no damage done, Chief Lowers encourages those types of calls to come in. He explains while it may be a case of no harm, no foul, he wants to know about that so they can track where the crimes may be taking place.

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Chief Lowers indicates they do keep track of where crimes are taking place and do keep track of trends involving locations, times of day, and keep those from year to year.

He also encourages neighbors and residents to keep eyes open for suspicious activity and to call anything out of the ordinary in to the police. He says they'd rather receive a call that turns out to be a resident walking home or out for a run than someone who may be up to trouble that doesn't get caught.