Olds RCMP and Citizens On Patrol (COP) volunteers saw an improvement Aug. 10 in the number of vehicles that weren't theft-proofed, but there's still room for improvement, they say.
During the afternoon of Aug. 10, seven COP volunteers and at least one Olds RCMP member checked vehicles in Cornerstone parking lots to see if those vehicles or contents within them were easy targets for thieves.
That crime prevention awareness initiative is called HEAT (Help End Auto Theft). Police officers and COP volunteers looked in the windows of vehicles to see if the doors were locked, keys were left inside and valuables were out of sight.
Notices were left on windshields stating whether the driver had done a good job of making their vehicle a harder target for thieves, or that the vehicle was an easier target, based on what could be seen through the window.
The information tickets also provided auto theft tips such as parking in well-lit areas, removing keys and valuables from the vehicles, locking doors and reporting suspicious activity to police.
Of the 276 vehicles checked, 158 were determined to be "hard targets" (difficult for thieves to steal and nothing visible to attract them) and 118 vehicles were viewed as easier targets.
"This was an improvement from what was observed during the HEAT program last year when the initiative found that easier targets outnumbered the vehicles observed to be more secure, harder targets," Staff Sgt. Jim MacDonald wrote in a news release.
MacDonald noted that since Jan. 1, 44 vehicles have been stolen from the Olds RCMP Detachment area.
Almost half of these vehicles were stolen when they were left running and unattended, or with keys left inside the vehicle. During the same period, there were 64 reports of thefts from vehicles in the detachment area. Fifty of those incidents alone occurred within Olds.
"Very often, stolen vehicles are used by thieves to commit further property offences, such as break-and-enters or thefts in rural areas," MacDonald wrote. "If we take transportation out of the equation, it makes it much more difficult for a criminal to do criminal things."
He also said starting vehicles with a push button start system and walking away with the key fob does not mean the vehicle will become immobilized if a thief attempts to steal it.
"The engine shut-off feature only works with remote starters. Most vehicles equipped with a push button start system will continue to drive without the fob present until the vehicle is turned off or runs out of gas," he wrote.
