"BURGLARS in blue" gave a string of York residents a rude awakening in the early hours today as part of a summer crackdown on sneak thefts.

Police checking houses in the Bishopthorpe Road area of the city found homes left with open ground floor windows and unlocked doors.

Officers called on a number of addresses between 1am and 3am, warning residents of opportunist thieves. Community sergeant Mike Stubbs, who led the operation, said up to a third of all burglaries are "sneak-ins", with a sharp increase in incidents traditionally seen during the summer months.

He said: "Today we could have walked away with thousands of pounds of people's property including lap tops, wallets, mobile phones and hi-fi equipment.

"We have found residents leaving high-value goods on open display in insecure rooms and quite often with house and car keys nearby.

"It takes just seconds for a sneak thief to enter a home, grab whatever is at hand and make off."

Opportunist crime is notoriously difficult to stop because offenders do not need to carry tools or equipment to help them enter homes. Investigators rarely find forensic evidence such as fingerprints, hair or forced entry marks around doors and windows because getting into the house is so straightforward.

Jane Mowat, head of the Safer York Partnership, said today: "The universal block to the sneak-in thief is simply to lock up! All members of the household should be encouraged to close doors and lock them.

"It is much easier to take a few simple security steps rather than cope with the misery and inconvenience caused by theft and burglary."

Sgt Stubbs said door and car keys should be hidden away, alarms switched on if installed and valuables never left on display.

Updated: 10:43 Wednesday, June 25, 2003