ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) _ A St. Petersburg lawyer is questioning the Pinellas County Sheriff’s decision to slip a bright yellow flyer into unlocked cars, asking people to lock their doors.
Attorney Don Simon says deputies are trespassing because they don’t have probable cause to open the cars.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says the program will continue, adding that deputies are not trespassing because they are not entering and searching cars.
In Pinellas County, the most reported property crime is vehicle burglaries, with about 60 to 70 percent of them occurring in unlocked cars. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the sheriff’s office investigates hundreds of car burglaries each year.
