Cutting Car Crime in Hitchin
| Published: 27th November 2008 17:13 |
PCSOs from the Hitchin Town Centre Neighbourhood Team carried out checks of over 150 vehicles in Waitrose Car Park on Thursday 19 November as part of Operation Tarantula, an initiative to ‘bite back' at car criminals.
PCSO Andrea Peat was involved in the roadshow and said: "It was pleasing to see that on the whole people had removed valuables from their vehicles, leaving them less at risk of becoming a victim of car crime. There were however 22 vehicles we saw where items could be seen, and in these cases we left notices offering drivers advice on how to protect themselves."
As part of the event drivers had the chance of getting their number plates fitted with tamper proof screws for free. Thanks to the AA 13 sets were fitted.
Andrea added: "We are committed to maintaining low levels of crime and reducing vehicle offences in the area. If you are interested in securing your number plates, so that they can't be taken and used by criminals to commit other crimes, we will be holding another roadshow in the St Mary's Car Park in Hitchin on Wednesday, December 3 so please come along and find out more."
Further vehicle crime prevention advice:
- Always lock your vehicle when you leave it parked and unoccupied. 10% of vehicles that were stolen or had property stolen from them had been left unlocked or with windows wound down.
- Always remove all personal property when you leave your vehicle parked and unoccupied. Be aware - thieves are opportunists looking for ‘must have' items like sat navs!
- Secure your number plates - replace them with Secure Plates or fix with tamper-proof screws. Theft of number plates accounts for around 15% of all motor vehicle crime.
- If you have a garage, use it to protect your vehicle at night.
- At night try to park your vehicle where there is good lighting (remembering to remove all personal property from the vehicle first!)
- Look out for ‘Park Mark' accredited car parks (part of the Safer Parking Scheme.) 40% of day time thefts from vehicles take place in public car parks.
- Look after your tools if you need them for your job and carry them in your vehicle. Act now to add more security to your vehicle such as a heavy duty safe bolted to the floor, a quality alarm and secure access doors with heavy duty bolts and locks. If you can, remove all valuable tools from vans when left parked and unattended and use notices to advertise that fact.
- Use a locking fuel cap as it could deter the opportunist fuel thief. High fuel prices may be encouraging more criminals to steal from other people's vehicles.
- Don't give in to the temptation to buy suspiciously cheap vehicle accessories or tools. They may be stolen and buying them rewards the thieves - next time it could be your property being offered for sale at suspiciously cheap prices.
- Call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 if you know of someone involved in vehicle crime or handling stolen goods. Your call will be treated anonymously and you could earn a cash reward.
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