These burglars need just 20 seconds to strike — but can be stopped with one simple move 

The next time you visit the mall for some last-minute shopping, you might witness a crime without even knowing it.

Carhopping, the practice of burglarizing unlocked vehicles in search of anything of value, has become a lucrative "crime of opportunity" across Dallas-Fort Worth.

"In broad daylight, it's a lot harder to break out someone's window than to just lift on the door handle," Mesquite police investigator Autumn Soto said. "It really doesn't draw a whole lot of attention."

One in five crimes in Mesquite involve a vehicle break-in or auto theft, and more than a third of those burglaries involve unlocked vehicles, Soto said.

"It takes 20 seconds for a thief to break into your car," she says in a video for the city's public safety campaign. "Please take the time to take, lock, hide."

Those three words, flashing across a 60-foot-tall video board, greet every visitor at Town East Mall.

Officers keep watch over the mall and surrounding area on foot, on bike and in parking lot surveillance towers.

"We do our best, but they just can't be everywhere," Town East general manager Jack Love said. "I've always looked at it as, if they're at my parking lot, they're not somewhere else being a deterrent to other things that are going on."

Burglars tend to blend in and act casual as they jiggle door handles, looking for one that's unlocked. Witnesses could be around, Soto said, but who can say whether the vehicle belongs to them or not?

It's not just shopping bags they're after, either. The intruders can be attracted by simple items like a charging cable, thinking a phone could be inside or GPS devices on the windshield. Identity thieves could be after paperwork stashed in glove compartments, Soto said.

One day last month, Rebecca Lanman found papers from her glove box strewn across her property in Wylie. The previous night, she sent her daughter out to grab something from her car but forgot to remind her to lock it.

“They threw everything everywhere as they looked for something valuable,” Lanman said. “We were fortunate there really wasn’t something to take.”

Relieved that the burglars didn't use her garage door opener to get in, she didn’t file a police report because nothing was stolen. Still, Lanman learned a lesson she hopes others take to heart: Lock up.

"Just [by] taking those steps, you can avoid a lot of hassle and a lot of loss," Lanman said.

No city is immune, big or small.

In September, two teen burglars stole a vehicle and were caught on surveillance videos carhopping through a Fort Worth neighborhood. One of the suspects got into an unlocked SUV where he found what appeared to be a pistol.

In October, purse snatchers in Arlington watched women leave their handbags in their vehicles as they shopped at a strip mall. The crooks, believed to be behind over a dozen crimes, would drive up to a car and grab the purse off the passenger seat before fleeing.

On Monday, three unlocked vehicles were burglarized on a residential street in Weatherford. Among the items taken were a purse, a tool bag and two backpacks.

"People leave a gun and $2,000 cash in their center console with their vehicle unlocked and they're surprised when it gets stolen," Weatherford police Sgt. Matthew Vinson said.

For some, leaving a door unlocked is a habit that takes some work to unlearn.

In Carrollton, police volunteers put up door hanger signs in neighborhoods targeted by vehicle burglars, police spokeswoman Jolene DeVito said.

"It's such a hard behavior to change because people just don't lock their doors unless it happens to them," she said. "We can't be everywhere, try as we might."

But sometimes a single arrest can end a carhopping spree. Last month, Carrollton was plagued by over 30 vehicle burglaries in one week, Devito said.

Deonte Davis, 20, was arrested and tied to 27 vehicle break-ins in the city, mostly because the distinguishing stripe in his hair was caught on multiple surveillance videos.

Burglaries have been in the single digits since his arrest, but DeVito says residents should remain vigilant because there are still burglars in the area.

“We were grateful recently they did go significantly down, but what goes down will probably go up again,” DeVito said.