Bradenton sees increase in vehicle burglaries, stolen guns

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Vehicle burglaries are a problem nationwide, but in Bradenton, police are seeing a significant increase. 

Bradenton Police Public Information Officer Meredith Censullo says the department is trying to warn the community to be vigilant and on the lookout.

“So we had none in January, then we started to see that uptick,” she said of vehicle burglaries.

She says last week they had a 350% increase of vehicle burglaries compared to the week of May 19.

“When you don’t have kids in school, when you have a lot of people at home, maybe they are relaxed, you start to see people maybe get complacent with locking up their cars,” she said.

There have been 116 vehicle burglaries so far this year, and she says most of the criminals are juveniles.

“They are just going down a row of cars and pulling on the handle, and finding one’s that open,” she said.

Guns being stolen from cars is also a rising problem, according to Censullo.

“The number of guns taken from cars has tripled in the past decade,” she said. “In 2023, for the entire year, we had 15 firearms taken from vehicles. So far in 2024, we’ve had 15 firearms taken from vehicles, so we’ve already met our number from last year.”

Censullo says when weapons get into the wrong person’s hands, it causes a threat to the community.

Tampa is also experiencing the same issue, where police say 200 guns were stolen from cars last year.

“When a gun is stolen from a vehicle, they are very likely to be committing a violent crime, and I have to believe that responsible gun owners would be horrified if their gun was used in a murder or to hurt someone,” said Censullo.

The Bradenton Police Department urges everyone to keep valuables and weapons out of sight and keep cars locked.