Theft from autos is nearing numbers that some police agencies call an epidemic.

Theft from autos is nearing numbers that some police agencies call an epidemic.

"Once the warm weather hits, it's a big spike for us and every other police department in central Ohio," says Officer Ben Boruchowitz with the Powell Police Department, a suburb north of Columbus.

Now is the time when Boruchowitz says Powell starts to see spikes in car break-in reports, sometimes as high as 10 to 12 calls a week. Gathering fingerprint evidence from every crime scene, no matter how small, is required of patrol officers if they are able; even if it just means thieves stole change from the console.

"If you don't take the time to be thorough on the small crimes, you're not going to be trained and do well when it's a bigger crime," says Boruchowitz, who is a certified master evidence technician. "Treat everything the same, do the best you can, as thorough as you can at every scene."

That attitude is the reason why Powell has solved five car break-in cases since 2013 through lifting fingerprints from cars. One of those arrests ended up clearing 150 similar cases from around central Ohio. Another arrest came from a handprint that was taken from the door frame of a car.

Boruchowitz says thieves just don't hit one community. "They hit Powell one night, then they hit Dublin, then Worthington. It's a circle all around Columbus."

Other police agencies, like Reynoldsburg police, also require officers on patrol to gather fingerprints from car break-ins at all times possible.

Columbus Police handled 3,641 theft from auto reports in 2015. While officers also carry evidence kits in their patrol cruisers, the sheer volume of calls related to this crime precludes officers from gathering that evidence unless the loss totaled more than $3,000 or if there is a known suspect. Columbus Police say they will also notify an Evidence Technician if the suspect left behind some type of physical evidence.