Meridian (670 KBOI News) – Meridian is no longer a quiet, sleepy dairy town…it’s the second largest city in Idaho.

So Deputy Chief of Police Tracy Basterrechea is asking residents to stop leaving their cars unlocked at night…like the 14 that were broken into Wednesday night and early this morning.

He says the thieves specifically targeted unsecured vehicles, because they’re low-hanging fruit.

“We did find some vehicles where the burglars had gone around the vehicles but were unable to make entry, because they were locked,” said Basterrechea.  “So they moved on to the easy target; the ones that were unlocked, and stole loose change, whatever was in there, and a gun from one of the vehicles, which obviously is very concerning.”

The burglaries happened in a couple of northeast Meridian neighborhoods.

Basterrechea says a good habit to get into is locking your car and taking your valuables inside every time you pull into your driveway.