MINNEAPOLIS -- Police say thieves have targeted cars parked at day care centers in four Minnesota and Wisconsin cities in recent weeks.

CBS Minnesota reports that in each theft -- in Hudson, Wis., St. Paul, Minn., Shakopee, Minn., and Edina, Minn. -- items were stolen from cars left by parents who were running in to pick up their children.

In at least two instances, witnesses saw a gray Land Rover park near the victim's cars, police said. The suspects in each of those cases, a driver and passenger, are female.

Hudson Police Chief Marty Jensen calls it a crime of opportunity.

"A lot of parents, especially like this incident we had, are in a hurry. They want to pick up their kids really quick," Chief Jensen said.

On Sept. 15, a mother picking up her young child from a KinderCare location in Hudson, Wis., went inside, leaving her car doors unlocked.

"She left the car running. She was just going to run in for a few minutes. Left her purse on the front seat," Jensen said. "Our suspects pulled up, looked, saw the vehicle was unlocked, the purse was easy, reached in, grabbed it, got in their car and took off."

Workers who were inside the daycare told police they saw the gray Land Rover.

At the KinderCare in Shakopee, a similar theft took place that same week. And once again, witnesses described seeing a gray Land Rover driving through the parking lot. Police say the description of the two female suspects matches as well.

They're asking for the public's help to find the suspects.

"I think what's going to help us is somebody who might have seen something, if someone got a license plate, a better description of the woman who got into the car, that will help," he said.

Police say they have identified suspects in the cases, but no arrests have been made.