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We're heading into the final weekend before Christmas and that means traffic will build near shopping centers.
Palm Springs Police Chief Tom Ceccarelli urges patience from drivers and warns about something else that he expects to be happening this weekend.
"There'll be a lot of people out there shopping and we get issues with auto burglaries because people leave their cars in the parking lot, they go on to grab something."
He shares some tips to avoid being a victim...
"Don't leave any valuables in your car and if you do, make sure they're out of sight before you get to the destination. Don't leave any signs that there are valuables in the car. Make sure to lock all your vehicle's doors because you wouldn't believe how many auto burglaries we get still with unblocked doors."
Chief Ceccarelli says a common excuse from drivers is that they don't want to deal with a broken window but he says the police department doesn't get as many cases of cars having windows broken as criminals just helping themselves to belongings inside vehicles left unlocked.
He also urges shoppers to be aware of their surroundings at all times this weekend so they dont' fall victim to crooks.