How we can help tackle thefts from vehicles and vehicle interference (trying car doors)
Not many things are more frustrating than having to pay to have your car repaired after being broken into when all that was stolen was a few items worth less than a tenner.
Prevention is always better than the cure, so please follow this advice:
ensure your car is locked, including the boot, whenever left unattended
never leave anything of on display in your car. Cars have been broken into for things like a few pence of loose change, a phone charger, sunglasses or even flip flops.
take anything of value out of the car, including dash-cams and satnavs where possible
keep the interior of your car tidy. Messy cars are attractive. Even a plastic bag of rubbish may attract attention as the thief won’t know what’s in it.
if you park on a driveway, install security lighting and an motion alert based CCTV, video doorbell or driveaway alarm.
The next most important thing is to report all crimes.
Unreported crime of this nature means that the scope for action police can take against the individual is limited, or when they do take action, it results in a non-custodial sentence, meaning the individual is free to continue blighting local communities. This helps:
police identify patterns of crime to target patrols
the offender get a proper punishment once caught
Please contact Warwickshire Police by calling 101
suffered a theft (of any value) from your vehicle
had your vehicle entered but nothing stolen
had your vehicle damaged
have witnessed or have CCTV footage of an individual stealing from a vehicle, entering a vehicle or trying a vehicles door
If you experienced or witnessed any of the above:
call 999 if the offender is still in sight
call 101 otherwise to report AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
don’t hestitate or post it on Facebook until it’s been reported to the police
ask the call handler for an incident number (different a crime number)
When you do post the incident on Facebook, do it as soon as you have reported it to the Police as this may help others avoid becoming a victim and also give others chance to spot the offenders and update the police.
If you do post a incident on Facebook, include the police incident number as others can then quote this if reporting updates or further offences to the police. This has the effect of increase the police priority of the offences.