A rash of vehicle break-ins in northwest Omaha has police asking for help. More than 30 people had items stolen from their vehicles over an eight-day period.

The break-ins occurred in an area bordered by Dodge Street on the south, Fort Street on the north, 72nd Street to the east and 120th Street to the west.

Thieves targeted anything of value including wallets and purses, clothes, stereos and GPS units. Police say items left in plain sight seemed to be an incentive for the thieves.

"If we just can stow those things away either in a center compartment or if it's something bigger maybe in the trunk," said Omaha Police Officer Jacob Bettin. "Or the best thing would be to take it inside with you. Then we won't have this situation."

Officer Bettin also wants to remind us to record serial numbers of valuable items so they can be traced if they end up at a pawn shop.

Tiffany Epp had her purse stolen from her van last Thursday. She brought her two boys to the Montclair Community Center at 135th Avenue and Montclair Drive. When they were preparing to leave they came out to their minivan and found the driver's side window smashed.

"All of a sudden I realized that there was glass on the ground and I ran and the first thing that I did was look for my purse and it was gone. So it was pretty traumatic."

She called police right away and reported the crime, but the thieves were already hard at work. "They were already, like at 3:04, going to my bank and ATM trying to get money out," said Epp. "They didn’t get anything because they didn't have PIN numbers."

"I had to spend almost $200 out of our own money. I had to get a new driver's license and the window on the driver's side door had to be fixed and that was almost like $160, $170."

"I will never have a purse that they can see in the car. "I'll either carry it with me or...I don't think I'll ever leave it in the car again."