Pool cleaner thefts are on the rise in Southlake Carroll, according to a report by the Southlake Department of Safety.

Since May, the department has responded to at least eight thefts. Pool cleaners can cost anywhere from $700 to $2,000 each. To help prevent cleaners and other pool supplies from being stolen, Southlake DPS recommended taking the following measures:

• Consider taking them out of the pool each night, out of the backyard, and locking them up out of sight;
• Get lights for your backyard area;
• Notify neighbors to be aware if you’re out of town;
• Consider adding a surveillance camera to help catch the thieves.

“We’re constantly on neighborhood checks, but we need your help to keep your gates, house, and pool cleaners secure,” the department said in a Facebook post. With a bit of pun humor, they added, “We have to deep end on each other to prevent theft.”

The rise in pool cleaner thefts was not just a Southlake issue, according to police officer and fire public information officer Brad Uptmore. “We have noticed through other department social pages that this was kind of a little trend going on,” Uptmore said.

Police recommend owners with anything of value in their backyards lock the items away or have some sort of security device to provide resistance, to possibly deter criminal activity.

“Any guard that you can put up or any hurdle in the commission of their theft always helps,” Uptmore said.

In 2019, the Southlake property crime rate was at 78.2 per 100,000 population, while the rest of the U.S. hovered around 178 per 100,000, according to City-Data.com.

The overall crime rate in Southlake was 67.79% lower in 2019 than the national rate of 2,346.0 per 100,000 people and 71.92% lower than the Texas total crime rate in 2019 of 2,691.5 per 100,000 people.