RCMP remind residents to help prevent ‘car-shopping’ thefts

It’s something that’s easy enough to forget, but local RCMP are encouraging residents to be extra conscientious about locking their vehicle doors and not leaving valuables inside.

Cpl. Rielly Knock of the Meadow Lake RCMP said that with the arrival of warmer weather, the detachment has received an increase in the number of complaints related to theft from vehicles and mischief to vehicles parked on streets and in driveways.

“We’re getting reports pretty much every day since the weather has turned nice,” he said. “Door handles being tried, cars being gone through, items being taken. When things are nice outside in the evenings, that’s when we seem to get the majority of calls.”

‘Car shopping’ is a slang term for when thieves move from car to car, checking for unlocked doors and any items that are quick to grab. Items don’t even have to be of huge monetary value, but even things like clothing and loose change can be of use to a thief.

Knock said that even though it may take a couple extra seconds, doing a check of the all the doors, taking any personal items is a good practice to get into.

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“Not leaving things in the vehicles, even if they’re not clearly visible, if your car’s unlocked that one night, they could get taken,” he said. “Checking all the door handles is so important. Recently, several high value items, electronics, cheques and loose change have been stolen from vehicles. Definitely take these with you.”

He also emphasized the importance of reporting these types of incidents if they do occur, even if the loss is minimal.

“Reporting helps us define trends and define problem areas in town,” said Knock. “We don’t always know where these things are happening, and it’s not always necessarily our main target areas. If people are reporting what happens, whether or not we can solve the thefts, we can make patrols and increase our visibility in [these] areas.”

He said items stolen from vehicles are generally used as trade in exchange for illicit drugs.

“The reason people steal things has a lot to do with the drug trade,” he said. “They’ll steal things of any kind of value and trade them or pawn them to get some cash to buy drugs with. So if we can eliminate that source of income for them it can certainly help eliminate some of the drug trade in Meadow Lake.

He added finds their vehicle has been tampered with, or had items stolen, contact Meadow Lake RCMP during at (306)236-2570 to report the incident as soon as possible.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath