A traffic stop on Tuesday led to the recovery of a handgun stolen two weeks ago from a car burglary and the arrest of a Troy man.

Sgt. Benny Scarbrough of the Troy Police Department said the Troy University Police Department recovered the revolver during a traffic stop that occurred around 1 p.m. on Folmar Street, following an incident that occurred on campus.

“When we ran the serial numbers on the firearm, it happened to be stolen from a vehicle burglary in Troy about two weeks ago,” Scarbrough said.

Tarnorris Sinclair Hall, 21, of Troy, was charged with possession of stolen property, a misdemeanor, and was being held on a $500 bond in the city jail. “It’s only a misdemeanor because the value of the firearm is less than $500,” Scarbrough said.

“However, we are continuing to investigate the incident and the vehicle burglary.”

Scarbrough said police are continuing to respond to a number of burglaries in the city limits, a trend other law enforcement agencies are reporting in other communities as well.

“One thing we need people to do is secure their property,” Scarbrough said. “You may not be able to stop every break in, but you can make it difficult.”

Scarbrough listed several actions homeowners can take to deter would-be burglars, including:

• Securing window locks and adding pins to windows, to fix window frames.

• Using deadbolt locks on all exterior doors and ensuring that they are using double-cylinder locks on all doors with glass panes. “A lot of people are using single-cylinder locks with thumb-throws on doors with glass, and those don’t do you any good,” Scarbrough said. “The rule I’ve always been taught is that someone can reach 40 inches to a thumb throw, so if you have glass within 40 inches of a lock, it should be a double-cylinder.”

• Securing vehicles and ensuring nothing is left in plain sight in the vehicle. “It’s best to bring everything into your residence. If that’s impossible, at least put anything of value in the trunk and secure it,” he said.

• Including lights and alarm sirens if you choose to use a security system. “The audible siren alerts the neighbors if it goes off, and they may see something,” he said.

• Communicating with police if you see suspicious activity at a neighbor’s home.

“We’d rather come out and ask questions and find out that someone is just delivering a package than have someone think nothing is going on and find out later that something was stolen off the porch,” Scarbrough said.