Police sweep vehicles
Posted Mar 27, 2013 11:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Yellow placards have been left on the windshields of vehicles in a southeast Calgary LRT parking lot which are either unlocked, or have personal property visible.
On the signs are three words — “All Valuables Removed.”
They’re designed to catch the attention of drivers to remind them to keep from becoming a statistic.
The signs have been left there by Calgary police, bylaw, city transit and the Alberta Motor Association.
In January, 135 vehicles were stolen or broken into in the south end of the city alone.
District 8 Inspector Ken Thrower says what’s been really noticeable lately is that 16 per cent of the vehicles, targetted in a theft, were not locked.
He says most of the incidents they deal with can be prevented.
His officers found one vehicle in their Wednesday sweep of the Somerset-Bridlewood LRT parking lot, with a wallet left sitting on the passenger seat.
“This is something where the vehicle’s unlocked, it really makes it easy and almost tempting for someone to break in,” says Thrower.
Police are continuing to use their bait car program but Thrower says just simply locking your doors can obviously prevent you from theft.
One woman who spoke to the media today to help raise awareness had her garage broken into using a garage door opener stolen from her vehicle.
