After another night of vehicles being reported stolen in the region, area police are putting out a simple plea to all residents: lock your cars and do not leave your keys, any weapons or prescribed narcotics in the vehicles, period.

This latest appeal comes after yet another night when police were busy handling more reports of stolen vehicles. During the early morning hours on Thursday, an SUV was stolen from the 700 block of Grandview Place in South Williamsport, borough police said. About 20 minutes after it was reported missing, an officer spotted it being driven in the Grandview Place neighborhood and initiated a pursuit that ended near East Seventh and Southmont avenues, where three to four males, believed to be juveniles, bailed out of the vehicle and took off running. The vehicle was towed to the borough’s police station, where it was processed for evidence.

While the youths had the SUV, but before police saw them, the driver struck a street sign with the vehicle, an officer said.

In the same one-hour time frame, a gray Jeep Compass was stolen from the 300 block of Church Street, borough police said. Its whereabouts remain unknown. In both cases, the vehicles were unlocked and the keys were in the vehicle, police said.

Across the river in Williamsport, a Ford Explorer, unlocked with the keys in the car, was stolen from the 700 block of Glenwood Avenue overnight, but it was recovered by mid-morning in the 1400 block of Elmira Street, police said.

“These cars are not being hot-wired,” one Williamsport officer said Thursday morning. “In most cases, the keys are simply being left in the vehicles,” he added. “Don’t leave keys, guns or any valuables in your vehicles,” he said. An estimated 45 cars have been stolen so far this year in the city; most have been recovered, the officer said.

He admitted that a number of car thefts go unsolved because many owners opt not to have police process the vehicles at all. “They don’t want to wait the two to three days it takes to get their vehicle back, and in many cases, it may be the only vehicle they have.”

The latest reported car thefts come just two days after six male city juveniles, ages 13 to 16, were taken into custody for stealing two cars in Montoursville and one from the city.

In an online post Thursday morning, South Williamsport police urged residents to “do what you can to prevent damage to – or theft of – your own property. Lock and secure your vehicles and take your car keys inside your home.”