By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

After auto theft spike, drivers urged to secure vehicles, belongings

May 10, 2018 | 2:13 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A spike in vehicle thefts once again has Lethbridge Police teaming up with Alberta Motor Association (AMA) to remind people to secure their cars and trucks.

Last year the police service responded to 319 stolen vehicles, an 85 per cent increase from the previous year. Alberta saw nearly 23,000 thefts, more than three times the national average and representing more than one quarter of all thefts in Canada.

“We are facing a staggering situation when it comes to vehicle theft and theft from vehicles in this province,” AMA vice-president Jeff Kasbrick said at a Lethbridge news conference. “Alberta is really leading in all of the wrong ways.”

AMA and the Lethbridge Police Service are partners in a campaign called Lock It or Lose It, which reminds vehicle owners to remove their keys and lock their vehicles, as well as removing valuables or keeping them out of sight. Kasbrick said it’s a refresh of a previous campaign focused on removing valuables. Past campaigns have produced a dip in thefts, but since 2015 the numbers have been much higher.

More than 2,000 incidents of theft (under $5,000) from vehicles were reported to Lethbridge Police in 2017, a 17 per cent increase. AMA said the concern isn’t just for valuables but personal information like insurance and registration documents that can be used in identity theft.

Week-in-review: Passenger rail, a big investment in Coaldale and an NFL draftee from Lethbridge

May 04, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this weekend: May 3, 2024

May 03, 2024

Week-in-review: Municipal election changes, a leadership debate and green bins

Apr 27, 2024

“Thirty-eight per cent of the vehicles that were stolen in 2017 in Lethbridge were vehicles that were left either running or else the keys in the vehicle,” Sgt. Cam Van Roon told reporters. “That again is crime that we can easily curtail by simply having people not leave their valuables or leave their keys in the vehicle or have the vehicles running, especially in the winter months.”

Van Roon said drug use is likely a contributing factor to the increase in thefts, as people take advantage of a crime of opportunity to obtain money to feed their habits. But he added the police service has always taken such thefts, and other property crimes, seriously, and will continue to do so.

“We have continued to take the reports, and then have the appropriate resources, whether that be certain units in the service, or if it’s happening in progress we have our patrols on the scene,” he explained. “We definitely have the resources that are being diverted that way to address it.”

Kasbrick uses this analogy to convince people to people to protect their vehicles and property:

“Never would any of us leave a duffel bag attended that had $30-50,000 within it. That is a crazy concept to any of us. However, that’s what vehicle theft represents. That’s the parallel of what that investment is.”