Bainbridge Island police are reporting a spike of daytime burglaries during weekdays, and officials said a serial burglar is at work in the area.

Police are asking for the public’s help in catching the culprit.

Residents are urged to call 911 to reports suspicious people and vehicles in their neighborhood, as well as unfamiliar people in their driveways or in their yards.

“Please don’t be hesitant to call 911 to report suspicious activity,” said Police Chief Matthew Hamner.

“My officers are here and ready to respond 24 hours a day,” he said. “We would rather have a call turn out to be nothing than to have another one of our residents victimized. We need the community to be our extra sets of eyes and ears in order to catch this burglar.”

Police said the burglar is using a “smash and grab” approach to force entry into homes in half of the reported cases.

Stolen items are generally small, easily concealable things such as guns, prescription drugs and jewelry.

Many of these burglaries have been in remote areas, away from downtown Winslow.

The burglar prefers remote areas with a cemetery or other remote parking nearby, likely to stage a getaway vehicle, officials said. The targeted neighborhoods generally have light traffic, and police think the burglar may be cruising neighborhoods in a vehicle to pick areas to come back to on foot.

Bainbridge police have not said how many burglaries have actually occured, or when the spike in burglaries was first noted.