Big impact on car thieves

Castanet:
The tables are being turned on car thieves in the Central Okanagan. A partnership between the Kelowna RCMP and the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team was formed for a three day campaign between November 17 and 20 which resulted in four arrests and three recovered stolen vehicles. IMPACT is a joint partnership based out of Surrey involving 22 specially trained police auto theft investigators and specialized equipment, including bait cars and the Automatic Licence Plate Recognition system.

Constable Steve Holmes say as a result of the campaign, three stolen vehicles were recovered, one that was abandoned and two with the thieves still inside. “Three thieves were arrested as a result of the thefts, and a fourth was arrested after he was caught trying to break into vehicles in the downtown area" says Holmes. He says the message to car thieves is clear. “If you steal cars, you will be caught. If you target cars, the police will target you. If you steal a bait car remember, you're being filmed, just give up. We have police dogs, a helicopter, and lots of police officers. We also have your picture. We will find you.”

Holmes says the goal of Operation IMPACT is to greatly reduce the incidence of vehicle thefts.
“It’s to take the anxiety that the public feels when it's being targeted by criminals, and put it where it belongs, in the hearts of the car thieves, who need to know what it's like to be targeted themselves.”

The public can help reduce the chances of vehicle theft with a few simple tips:

• Get an immobilizer for your car if it doesn't have a factory installed one. A multi point immobilizer is designed to affect several systems in your vehicle, in an attempted theft, and makes it almost impossible for a thief to defeat
  
• Don't leave valuables inside your vehicle. If they can't steal your car, they'll steal anything else from it they think has value
  
• Use proper fasteners to affix your licence plates to your vehicle.

“Thieves are swapping licence plates from vehicles and putting them on stolen vehicles of the same make and model. It usually takes people a lot longer to notice that their licence plates are wrong, so this gives the thieves more time to drive around in a stolen vehicle with licence plates that have not yet been reported stolen. To that end, be sure you check that the licence plates on your vehicle are your licence plates.” A similar project is being planned for the near future.