Brooklyn Paper reports that the 88th precinct, which encompasses Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, has experienced a string of car break-ins lately and that police are now warning people not to keep valuables in their cars.

A man was arrested at the beginning of the month for four of the area’s 14 recent auto burglaries, but last week saw two more, one in which a 49-year-old woman’s purse was stolen out of her car, and another in which a backpack was taken out of a “work truck” on Myrtle Ave. A little scary, to be sure, but most likely not anything that’ll turn back the tide against the recent drop in crime, either. Also, we thought that not leaving anything of value visible in parked cars was sort of a safety 101 thing that everyone learns as a kid, but between this and last year’s NYPD program to stop clueless Cobble Hill, Red Hook, and Carroll Gardens residents from just leaving expensive stuff out for the taking, it seems as good a time as any to issue a friendly reminder: don’t do that! People like nice things, and sometimes they also steal them.

Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.