Terrace RCMP Auxiliary members and the Crime Reduction Unit regular members will be conducting a holiday Lock Out Auto Crime operation this Saturday, Dec. 12.
The members will be checking vehicles in parking lots throughout Terrace and Thornhill and completing a Crime Prevention Notice identifying key areas where drivers can improve or eliminate the opportunity for a crime to take place.
"We get many calls of theft from vehicles, over 120 of them in 2015, and in the majority of these incidents the vehicle was left unlocked. Theft from vehicles is a crime of opportunity and as such is preventable. Locking a vehicle is the first step.
"The second step is not leaving valuables in a vehicle or in plain view. Something as insignificant as change in the console may lure a thief. Quite often the damage the thief causes to get into a vehicle is a lot more expensive than what they actually steal. The victim then has to pay the deductible cost, and all of us are faced with higher insurance premiums as a result," says Cst Angela Rabut, Community Policing/Media Relations Terrace RCMP.
The program, operated in conjunction with the Terrace RCMP, ICBC, and McDonald’s, and is designed to raise public awareness and reduce crime through education and presence.
A Crime Prevention Notice will be filled out and left on the windshield of a checked vehicle, along with a free coffee, compliments of McDonald’s.
Key areas that attract thieves to a vehicle that are noted on the Crime Prevention Notice are:
Are there items of value left in plain view?
Is your vehicle locked?
Does your vehicle have an anti-theft device?
Have all suitable steps been taken to prevent auto crime?
The auxiliaries will be happy to speak to vehicle owners regarding making their vehicles less appealing to thieves.
For more information, contact Const. Angela Rabut, Community Policing/Media Relations Terrace RCMP at 250-638-7400.