Although the biggest shopping weekend of the year has passed, many shoppers will still be looking for gifts in the next few weeks.

And more people out shopping brings an increase in certain crimes such as entering autos and shoplifting.

Hall County authorities said this year's Black Friday weekend passed with few issues, but they still caution shoppers to be aware as holiday shopping continues.

"We haven't had any specific rash of entering autos or shoplifting, but this time of year we do see a little bit of an increase. It's just the nature of the season," said Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks with the Hall County Sheriff's Office.

Local authorities took measures to prevent a crime-filled weekend by increasing patrols and surveillance of shopping areas in the county.

"We did take proactive measures before the holidays," said Kevin Holbrook, public information officer for the Gainesville Police Department.

"We had a number of saturated patrols around the shopping areas and we had officers working at the large retail stores, so of course those are all visual crime deterrent," he added.

Patrols will continue to be increased until the holiday shopping season passes, Holbrook said.

One of the biggest issues that come with the shopping season is people placing items in plain view in their vehicles, Wilbanks said.

Often thieves will scour parking lots, peaking in car windows to see if there is anything of value.

It only takes a few seconds for a thief to break a window and retrieve items from a car. Some thieves may even go car to car looking for unlocked doors.

"What we emphasize most importantly is when people ... make a bunch of purchases and put them back in their car, make sure those items are locked in the trunk, out of sight," Wilbanks said.

But Wilbanks said shoppers should avoid leaving items unattended in a car for long periods of time, even if in the trunk.

Community policing can help reduce those kind of crimes, Wilbanks said.

If a person seems suspicious, police urge shoppers to notify store employees and law enforcement.

"Maybe that person is paying too much attention to you like they might be trying to set you up to rob or carjack you," Wilbanks said. "If you see any of those indicators go back into the store, ask for a security officer to escort you out to the car."

Another issue during the busy holiday season is increased traffic in parking lots.

"The parking lots are very busy. A lot of times people are distracted with shopping and going from one place to another so we like to emphasize people still maintain good situation awareness," Wilbanks said.

That includes not being distracted by talking on a cell phone or texting and having car keys ready before getting to the car to avoid having to search for them, Holbrook said.