It's something anyone who lives is a cold climate has probablydone–gone outside to turn the car on to defrost and warm up, andthen gone back into the house or apartment.

With the cold weather gripping much of the nation, thousands ofdrivers are starting their cars and leaving them idling for a fewminutes while they warm up on these frigid mornings, but police sayit's a bad idea because it creates a crime of opportunity forthieves. Just this month, several dozen cars in six states werestolen as their drivers left them idling in driveways or on thestreet. Eleven cars were stole in a single morning in Indianapolisearlier this week.

This type of crime usually spikes in the winter months. In St.Louis, 16% more cars were stolen in January 2014 than the previousyears. Officials are worried because the crimes usually occur inthe mornings when students are waiting for school buses and thethieves will take off at a high rate of speed, endangering anyonein their path. In some areas, gangs of thieves are watching driversstart their cars and then swoop in to steal several cars in asingle neighborhood.