Area police are noticing a new crime trend, more daytime robberies and burglaries.

Summit County Sheriff's Inspector Bill Holland tells AkronNewsNow there could be a number of factors causing robbers to do what they always used to do under the cover of darkness. " It's hard to put your finger on one specific reason on why these are happening during the daytime. That's the shocking thing. They're happening in broad daylight with neighbors out and they almost seem to go unseen."

Holland says the economy and the fact more people are home and travelling in residential areas due to job losses are factors in criminals seizing on more robbery opportunities.

Bill Holland has some advice for local residents to avoid being a robbery or burglary victim.

" Don't feed into the opportunity angle that a lot of these criminals are looking for. Maybe vary your arrival and departure times to home, stop by during the day, things like that. Don't take the same path. I'm not saying you need to be totally paranoid, but vary it up a little bit," says Holland.

Akron and other communities in Summit County have seen an increase over the past few months in daytime robberies and burglaries.

In one incident this past weekend a 68-year old Akron motorist was targeted by two men who hit his car with their vehicle and then flagged him into a parking lot, where he was robbed at gunpoint.