As this is national Car Crime Awareness Week, which is organised by the Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service of the Association of Chief Police Officers, local police say many drivers in East Cheshire need to give more thought to protecting their vehicles against car crime.
Simple precautions like locking the car when it is parked, taking care of keys and not leaving valuable property on car seats or dashboards would have a “massive impact” on criminals who specialize in vehicle crime.
Detective Sergeant Dan Ackerley, who heads a specialist vehicle crime unit for Cheshire Police Eastern Area said they had made “serious inroads” into this type of crime since the unit was set up nearly two years ago. The number of thefts of vehicles, and the number of thefts from vehicles have shown a marked reduction, whilst the number of detections has risen.
He added, “We use every type of policing technique. We carry out reactive investigations when a car crime is reported and pro-active surveillance when a pattern of vehicle crime develops in a particular area. We collect and follow up all information which comes in from many different sources. We target known criminals who specialize in vehicle crime and work with officers who police the roads to disrupt the criminals’ activity. That is particularly important when we deal with offenders from other areas who travel here, either individually or in teams, to steal cars or steal property from vehicles.
All this helps to drive the number of offences down but simple crime prevention by drivers would have a massive impact on the figures. Incidents of property being stolen from a parked vehicle make up by far the largest section of vehicle crimes. A large proportion of those vehicles targeted by the criminal have been left unlocked. Some thieves walk around trying car doors until they find one that is open. They don’t go to the trouble of breaking into a car.
“Another area of carelessness is leaving valuables on view. Satnavs and CD players are an obvious attraction for a thief and people also leave laptops, games consoles and similar items lying on car seats. Vehicle crime is opportunistic. These drivers are presenting the thief with exactly what he is looking for. In most cases, if the opportunity was not there, the crime would not happen. It’s as simple as that!
“Locking belongings in the car boot is better than leaving them on view, but when you do it, be aware of what is going on around you. Make sure no-one is lurking around watching you. If possible, use a car park or leave your car in an open area which is covered by a CCTV camera. If you are out at night, try to park in a spot which is well-lit.
“Because of the improvements in anti-theft devices on vehicles, actually driving a car away is now a lot more complex for criminals. Basically, they need the keys. So take care where you leave your keys, whether you are out and about, or at home. Some criminals are quite prepared to break into your home to steal the keys and take the car off your drive. If they can see the keys through a window they are much more likely to try.
“In the year up to April 2010 we had 1847 vehicle crimes in Eastern Area compared to 2410 in the previous 12 months. Thefts from vehicles were down to 1452 from 1821.
“Those are substantial reductions but we can do a lot better if people think about car crime and take basic precautions. Ultimately it is the public that has the power to make significant changes.”
