SUNDRE — Vehicle theft is a crime not typically perpetrated by thieves who have meticulously premeditated their intent.
“Vehicle theft is usually a crime of opportunity,” said the Sundre RCMP detachment's Sgt. Trent Sperlie. “And the more opportunity that the criminals and the thieves get, the more likely that there’s going to be a stolen vehicle. It’s a fairly significant issue.”
In the sergeant’s relatively brief period of time serving the area since becoming the local RCMP detachment’s commander this past October, he said there have been multiple instances of unattended idling vehicles ending up stolen.
“We’ve had vehicles stolen from businesses in town, where they were in a back area that was dark — there wasn’t any surveillance. It was just an easy target where they wouldn’t garner a lot of attention,” said Sperlie.
“Another one was actually when somebody pulled up to a local business, ran in to grab something and instead of shutting off the vehicle, they just left it run and it left the opportunity there for somebody to steal it,” he said.
“It doesn’t happen (in this area) as often as you would see in say Red Deer and Calgary. But it’s still one of those things that we can try to prevent,” he said, calling the Alberta RCMP’s Operation Cold Start campaign a part of an overall crime prevention strategy.
Local Mounties are participating in the awareness raising campaign, which was according to a provincial RCMP press release scheduled to start on Monday, Jan. 31 and continues until Sunday, Feb. 6. Members will be on the lookout for unattended, idling vehicles earlier in the morning, which is when thieves are typically on the prowl for targets of opportunity as many people are warming up their vehicles while they prepare to go to work.
“The thieves and the criminals, they know that at 7 in the morning, everybody’s getting ready to go to work. And on a cold day, they know that everybody’s going to come out and start their vehicles, and not everybody’s going to have a remote starter, and they’re going to start checking doors,” said Sperlie. “And that’s when the vehicles go missing.”
There have also been instances when a person leaves a pet or even a child unattended with the intention of quickly returning to an idling vehicle that ends up getting stolen, he said.
“And the child or the pet goes with the vehicle.”
But through educational outreach promoting crime prevention measures, the overall number of stolen vehicles and the stress it causes owners should decrease, the sergeant said.
And interactions between officers and members of the public are intended to be positive engagements to inform people, he added.
“It’s not meant to be accusatory. It’s simply some engagement with the public from the police, and a little bit of education on crime prevention,” he said.
“If we see a vehicle running, all we’re going to do is try to contact the owner” to provide them some information and tips on preventing vehicle theft, he said.
If the owner cannot immediately be contacted, officers will leave a pamphlet on the vehicle.
“Operation Cold Start focuses on some preventative measures, with the ultimate goal of not becoming a victim of a stolen vehicle by leaving it running to let it warm up in the morning or just running in the store,” the sergeant said.
Among some of the recommended approaches are to if possible obtain a remote starter to help prevent theft while the vehicle warms up, or better yet, “Stay with your vehicle. If you’re going to leave it running, try to stay with it if you can,” he said.
“Just don’t leave it unattended and running with the keys in it — it makes such an easy target to steal.”
Additionally, idling or not, keys should never be left inside an unattended vehicle, he said.
According to the provincial RCMP’s press release, approximately one quarter of stolen vehicles in Alberta were taken while idling.
“These thefts are far more prevalent in the cold winter months,” reads a portion of the statement. “Vehicles can be stolen in seconds by thieves lying in wait.”
Additional theft prevention tips included on the press release were:
• Steering wheel locking devices, which can be effective options that can help mitigate theft;
• Never leave valuable items like purses, wallets, keys or change in an unoccupied vehicle;
• Always place keys to vehicles in a safe place, out of plain sight and in a secure location; and
• Lock vehicle doors all the time, even if you are parked in your driveway or garage at home.
Individual police agencies and RCMP detachments have implemented this initiative in past years. But 2022 will be the first time police agencies and Mounties across Alberta coordinate on the campaign, reads the press statement.
“Alberta has the highest per capita auto theft rate in the country,” RCMP Superintendent Mike McCauley of the Community Safety and Wellbeing Branch was quoted as saying in the press release.
“This drives up insurance rates for Albertans and these files take a great deal of time to investigate,” said McCauley, adding police hope the project will not only prevent some vehicle thefts, but perhaps also change drivers’ habits.
