Car Key Burglaries on the Up

I take a news feed from West Mercia Police via ‘Blogtrottr’.  I do this because the type of crime that emanates from the West Mercia Police area, which is home to several cities and towns and lots of villages, reflects what is going on throughout the UK.  I also know the area quite well as my wife’s family are from Herefordshire and I visit several times a year.

This week I’ve noticed a number of reports about ‘car key burglaries’.  This is where a burglary is committed resulting in the car being stolen.  When a valuable car is taken, such as the one reported today where a £50,000 Black Land Rover BF 62 XFY was taken from the Station Road/Norton Lane area of Wythall (North east Worcestershire) between 8.15pm on Wednesday and 8am yesterday, it’s highly likely that the vehicle was the burglars’ target from the get-go.  

In this incident the thief entered through an open back door and took the keys off a worktop, suggesting the owners were in at the time and were possibly followed home. Unfortunately this vehicle could well end up in a foreign country never to be seen again by the owners.

There are several things we could all do to make this type of crime less likely.

• Make sure your home security is up to scratch making sure that access into your back garden is difficult
• Get into the habit of locking the back door when you’re in
• Find a less obvious place to leave vehicle keys when you arrive home
• Don’t leave car keys at home when you go out, unless they’re being kept in an insurance rated safe
• Have a tracking device installed into your vehicle and get is marked up using the services of somebody like Retainagroup
• High value vehicles should be kept in a garage whenever possible

For more advice take a look at this section on The Crime Prevention Website

You know it makes sense!