A Denton County police department wants Whataburger customers to stop stealing the restaurants' orange plastic order numbers.

The Northeast Police Department, which serves Cross Roads and Krugerville, said in a Facebook post Saturday that it's a "game" for area teens to take the numbers.

"The issue has become very apparent when we ... at times possess more of these numbers than the restaurant does," the department said.

In one photo, the department showed a side-by-side comparison of the large stack of numbers they recovered in one case, compared with the few remaining at a Whataburger.

1 / 2Stack of Whataburger numbers recovered by police, left, and those remaining in the restaurant. ((Northeast Police Department)) 2 / 2Whataburger numbers recovered by Northeast police in one incident.((Northeast Police Department))

Those 70 numbers were recovered during an unrelated traffic stop about two weeks ago, Northeast Police Chief James Edland told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"Whataburger is ordering a new bundle [of the numbers] every week because they disappear so fast," he said. "It might be a cool thing to do, but it's still stealing."

Commenters on Facebook wondered whether there weren't other crimes police could be cracking down on — though some noted the importance of teaching teenagers to respect others' property.

One commenter asked whether police had any 93's in the stack so they could complete his collection.

Whataburger doesn't seem to be fazed by the numbers game, which has been played for years.

Now that's a huge collection lol! — Whataburger® (@Whataburger) February 27, 2017

Anyone caught with the stolen numbers could face a citation for theft of property under $100, Northeast police said.