Police call on residents to be part of the solution
By Trail Champion
Local police are becoming increasingly frustrated with fundamentally preventable crimes that are both victimizing residents and chewing up police resources, according to RCMP Cpl. Darryl Orr.
“RCMP have recently responded to a number of complaints involving thefts from motor vehicles,” Orr said. “In a majority of these investigations, it was determined the vehicles which had items stolen from them were left unlocked. RCMP suggest that in additional to always locking your vehicle, items of any value should never be left inside your vehicle.”
He said the simple act of locking your doors would go a long way toward reducing crime in the city.
“Cars today are pretty tough to break into, if they’re locked – but those aren’t the calls were going to. We’re not going to smashed windows and doors pried open with crowbars. We’re going to cars left unlocked with valuables or even the keys inside,” he said. “We’ve probably had 15 calls in the past week. It’s the typical criminal going window shopping.
“The same things goes with break-and-enters. Criminals aren’t smashing windows, they’re walking right through unlocked doors.”
He said that leaves police with very little opportunity to catch the thieves or help return property to residents – but still uses a significant portion of available police resources to respond to and investigate preventable crimes.
“The solve-ability of thefts from unlocked vehicles is very low – it’s usually late at night, with no witnesses and no forensic information. We need residents to help us help them. I’ll bet we could reduce crime by 20 per cent overnight, if people would just be more diligent.”
At the end of the day, he said, residents have to take some responsibility when it comes to safeguarding their property.
“Criminals are lazy, generally – they go for the easy target. So let’s not be easy targets.”
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