Ventura experienced 17 percent more property-related crimes in 2012 than in 2011, police reported this week.

One of the biggest jumps came from vehicle thefts, police said, noting that 282 vehicles were reported stolen in Ventura in 2012, compared to 195 the year before.

Many of the vehicles stolen were either older models or ones that had been left unlocked, sometimes with the keys inside, police said.

There were also nearly 500 residential burglaries in the city last year, 21 percent more than a year earlier, according to the annual crime report released by police.

Authorities blame the increase in property crime on a combination of three factors a weak economy combined with what police said is the need for more officers in the city and an inmate early release program instituted by the state in October 2011.

“Each of these contributed to the increase,” Darin Schindler, a Ventura police commander, said Wednesday.

Many of the residential burglaries are committed during the day when no one is home, Schindler said.

Burglars often will knock on the front door to see if anyone is home, he said. Sho

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