MILLINOCKET – Residents keep making it easy for a car burglar or burglars to steal, most recently with five vehicle break-ins reported in the Little Italy section of town on Thursday, police said.

The five new break-ins bring the total number of thefts from parked vehicles reported since Dec. 4 to about 55, Detective Ron McCarthy said.

And, as with the previous 50 thefts, the thief or thieves got all the help they needed from the victims, who left their vehicles unlocked.

“We’re out there, trying to do what we can, but we’re not getting a lot of help,” said McCarthy, who admitted to some frustration at residents’ apparent unwillingness to lock their vehicles despite several police warnings about the ongoing crime wave.

The five thefts were reported on Medway Road and Prospect, Waldo and York streets from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., as residents ventured to their cars for the first time on Thursday. This leads police to believe the thefts occurred overnight, said McCarthy and Officer Jason Linkletter, who is assisting the investigation.

Thursday’s reports mark the first time Little Italy has been hit, McCarthy said.

On Dec. 11, 26 thefts occurred in the “new development” area of town, so called because it was built during the 1950s. The area includes Massachusetts and Connecticut avenues, Canyon Drive, Sunset Boulevard, and New Jersey and New Hampshire streets.

About 15 to 20 vehicles along Katahdin Avenue, Lincoln, and Knox streets were ransacked the week before, on Dec. 4.

In all cases, the burglars ignored locked vehicles and stole loose change, cigarettes and other items from vehicles and their glove boxes, McCarthy said. No value on the stolen items has yet been estimated.

“They are passing up firearms or computers or prescription pills left in the vehicles,” Linkletter said.

Police believe the same suspect or suspects are responsible for all the thefts. They ask anyone with information to call them at 723-9731. All calls will be kept confidential.

Investigators discovered something new in Thursday’s thefts: In at least one case, a vehicle was burglarized from within an unlocked garage. In another, a key was left jammed in an ignition, indicating a possible car theft attempt.