LIVERMORE FALLS — Police are hoping that residents change their habits of leaving their vehicles unlocked and the keys inside them.

Vehicles are being taken from driveways and other places for joy rides, he said. They are either being left somewhere else or returned to where they came from, and sometimes the owner doesn’t know it, officer Steve Wilkinson said.

On Monday, he responded to a burglary in the in-town area where someone had entered a person’s house through a window.

The family had been away camping and returned home. After looking around, the owner realized someone had been inside and then noticed a screen and window was open in a bedroom, Wilkinson said.

While Wilkinson was at the scene the owner checked a vehicle in his yard and the keys that were left in it were missing. He also noticed that there was mud on it, items were moved around and that one tire was bald, Wilkinson said.

That was not how he left the vehicle, he said.

There’s no telling where the vehicle had been or if someone could have been hurt, either the joy rider or an innocent person, Wilkinson added.

The resident found the key to his vehicle in the bedroom where the house was entered.

Another vehicle was taken last week and was left a block-and-a-half away from the owner’s residence. It had run out of gas, he said.

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