Phone police if you see something suspicious

Olds and District Rural Crime Watch Association secretary-treasurer Judy Schlichenmayer is urging residents to phone police if they see something suspicious occurring.

“I think society in general is reluctant to phone in stuff,” she says.

“I see that on Facebook all the time. ‘Oh yeah, I saw somebody in the parking lot (of a local business) --- you know, trying to get into vehicles.'

“And the question is, ‘did you phone the police?'

“‘Well no, they won't do anything about it.'

“But if they know something's going on, they can start tracking those incidents,” she says.

Schlichenmayer says parking lots are ‘prime targets' for thieves.

She notes a lot of thefts – or attempted thefts – occurred in parking lots in Olds just before Christmas.

Thieves were especially interested in vehicles that had packages inside.

“Make sure you lock things up. Don't leave your keys in your vehicle because things are just rampant right now with theft of vehicles,” Schlichenmayer says. “Then they're burning them up afterward to get rid of the evidence. It's just crazy.”

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