Police officers say: No puffing!

The idea is a good one: Before you get into the car to drive away you turn it on and go back into the house and finish getting ready.

But police officers say that’s a bad idea.

The practice is called puffing, and it’s common this time of the year as folks try to warm up their frigid cars in the morning.

The Colorado Springs Police Department wants to remind you not only is it against the law, the price could be much more than just the cost of a ticket.

Lt. Catherine Buckley of the Colorado Springs Police Department said, “Last year in Colorado Springs we had 115 cars stolen that were puffing.”

Buckley said groups of car thieves have been known to go around neighborhoods and look for cars that are puffing in order to steal them.