CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) — Clearwater police officers used a unique approach to help reduce car burglaries on Thursday. Officers went door to door, rewarding residents whose car doors were locked with Tampa Bay Rays tickets.

“We’re out here doing a burglary reduction initiative. It’s locked, that’s perfect,” said Sgt. Timothy Downes to a resident.

Officers hope everyone gets the message of their new campaign: Lock your doors, take your keys, secure your belongings.

“Most of our vehicle burglaries are to our unlocked vehicles,” said Sgt. Downes.”It’s a crime of opportunity, people see a chance. They might not have woke up that day thinking they were going to steal a car, but they see your car running and the door open, they hop in and go.”

Residents whose car doors were locked, got four tickets to a Rays home game. The police department is partnering with the Rays for this initiative.

Lorraine Bernardi learned her lesson after her car was broken into years ago.

“They did like six, or seven cars in the neighborhood. But we haven’t had a problem since then,” she said.

Other neighbors think it’s a great way to reward those doing what they can to reduce break-ins.

“You need to be sure that you’re locking your door and keeping your garage door closed,” said Michael Butler.

Car burglaries are on the rise. Teens rummaged through 20 vehicles in Hillsborough Co. last weekend. Another man was caught on camera this morning, checking for unlocked cars along Queensboro Ave. in St. Pete.

An easy crime investigators said, can easily be avoided.

“We have to investigate those, just like if they took a gun or anything else and it consumes a lot of time and there’s other things we could be focusing on,” said Sgt. Downes.

Out of 102 vehicles checked, 75 were locked. 27 were not.

The campaign also stresses to close your garage door. 15 of those, were found open today.

Clearwater Police plan to do another door to door campaign. But detectives won’t tell residents when it will happen.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON RIGHT NOW: