Local roadshows to combat growing car crime

The police in North West Leicestershire will hold two road shows in a bid to tackle an increase in car crime in the Castle Donington and Kegworth areas. In the last 60 days there have been 43 incidents of vehicle crime in the areas, 32 of them have occurred in the last thirty days

Today (Tuesday) and on Friday 3rd October police and community volunteers will be based in the ‘Beat Bus' which will be parked on a high-visibility car park between 10am and 1pm and  will be giving out crime prevention advice, sat nav tags and key rings to remind motorists to keep their property safe and out of sight.

Inspector Chris Brown, Commander of North West Leicestershire Local Policing Unit, said; "We are seeing an increase in car crime in the Castle Donington and Kegworth areas and, in the majority of cases, officers are finding that the owner of the vehicle has left something on display in their car or van which tempts an opportunist thief to break in and take what they want, often in a matter of seconds. Items that are being stolen include laptops, iPods, car stereos, satellite navigation systems and mobile phones."

Car crime prevention advice includes:

• Make sure doors are locked and windows are closed when you leave the car even if it's only for a moment.
• Leaving items on display in the car, for example handbags, sat navs and mobile phones, are an appealing target for thieves. Take them with you, or put them out of view whenever possible. Remove the sat nav cradle and wipe suction cup marks off the windscreen.
• Consider having the windows etched with the car's vehicle registration number and keep a note of the chassis number somewhere safe.
• Car stereos are attractive to thieves, if possible remove them whenever you leave your car. Retract car aerials and tuck in wing mirrors to discourage vandals.
• If you have a garage at home, make sure you can lock it and use it. When using public car parks, try to park in an attended car park and look for signs that say ‘Secured Car Parks'. If you can't find a car park, try to avoid parking in places that are unlit, have easy access and are hidden from public view.

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