SMITHFIELD - Town leaders and police officials have released a plan to deal with a recent increase in home, car and shed break-ins.

At a town council meeting last week, Councilman Andy Moore said he'd talked to many residents concerned about increased crime and asked Police Chief Michael Scott to come up with a plan to address the problem.

According to police department statistics, property break-ins have increased 31.8 percent in the past six months over the same period in 2008. Vehicle break-ins were up 22.2 percent from June to November 2009 compared to those months in 2008.

"What started out as going into unlocked cars has turned into going into storage buildings and house break-ins," Moore said. "This is something that is very important and needs to be addressed immediately."

On Tuesday night — one week after Moore's comments — Scott met with the Town Council for about three hours, explaining his plan to crack down on crime and getting feedback from council members.

Police plan to use technology to map crime statistics and discover trends that can help identify where additional efforts are needed. Officers will step up patrols in problem areas and will work more closely with other local law enforcement agencies to solve crimes.

"We would be expending no additional monies for this program," Mayor Daniel Evans said. Evans plans to make crime one of the main topics of neighborhood meetings he's planning with town staff. The meetings — one in each council district starting in January — will connect residents with town officials.

"I call it government back in touch," Evans said.

In the coming months, the council will be considering stronger measures to deal with crime, such as increased funding for police equipment or a curfew, Evans said.