For the Ontwa Township and Edwardsburg Police Department it’s been no rest for the weary as the holiday season has been somewhat marred by a rash of vehicle and residential break-ins throughout the area.

Police are asking the public for help in locating the person or persons responsible for an estimated 15 crimes committed in the past month, according to Chief Kenneth Wray.

“For the last six months up until the last two months have been all around the township,” Wray said. “But all of a sudden they’ve started hitting around here. We’re working on it but we don’t have any descriptions of vehicles or people.”

Wray said what the police need is for citizens to be vigilant, report any suspicious activity, vehicles or persons in their area and be aware of what’s going on in their neighborhoods.

Police reported several instances of vehicle and/or home invasions Tuesday, including a home invasion on North Shore Drive near Eagle Lake, where electronics were stolen. The home was reportedly broken into sometime around 7 and 8 p.m.

Five vehicles were reported broken into, including two inside a residential garage. Key, tools and electronics were stolen in that particular incident, near Eagle Cove.

Another vehicle was broken into on Brady Road. Tools were stolen from the vehicle involved in that incident.

On Eighth Avenue, a vehicle that had been parked in the same spot before Christmas was broken into, with a woman’s purse, keys and a communications radio stolen. In that incident, the theft was not discovered or reported for two days.

“Most of the time it’s just vehicles left open,” Wray said.

In some cases, the perpetrators are just taking change or a GPS left in the vehicles. Evidence is scarce.

“We’re not finding much,” he said. “That’s the bad part.”

Wray added that police don’t think the incidents are connected, rather that a particular person or group of persons is responsible for the break-ins occurring in vehicles, and a different group or individual is responsible for the residential incidents.

Police were told Monday of a vehicle break-in near Fox Crossing. The actual theft, in which a laptop computer was stolen, is believed to have taken place the first week of November.

Wray said a lack of timely reports or tips from the public makes the job of finding those responsible that much harder.

And he stressed the need for residents to avoid keeping valuables in their vehicles.

“The sheriff’s department has posted — lock your cars,” he said. “We’ve posted it. Lock your house.”

Asked if whether he believes the rash of criminal activity might be attributed to youth offenders currently not in school in and around the area due to winter break, Wray said that possibility was unlikely.

“No, this has been going on too long,” he said. “This has been about a month of this.”

The Garver Lake, Eagle Lake and Redfield Road areas are three primary areas where police have seen incidents of vehicle and residential break-ins, Wray said.

“If they see someone suspicious, call,” he said. “Or if they see something in the area,” such as an unusual vehicle, or suspicious activity, contact authorities immediately.”

Wray said he’d rather respond to a call that could turn out to be nothing than for someone to not report a possible tip.

“Just be more observant,” he said.

Wray estimated the value of items stolen from residences in the thousands of dollars, and from vehicles, in the hundreds of dollars.

To stay up to date on what’s going on in the area, Wray advised more members of the community to sign up to the auto-alert system nixle.com, where they can search for Edwardsburg and receive e-mail alerts when the police department posts anything to its account.