BARRHEAD –Eight vehicle thefts have been reported in the Barrhead area recently.
“Since Christmas until the last week or so we had quite a spurt of stolen vehicles,” said Cpl. Filipe Vicente at the RCMP Town Hall held at the Senior Drop-in Centre on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
“A couple of people went to jail last summer, and we had months on end without any stolen vehicles.”
Some of the thefts are Barrhead vehicles and some are thefts from Edmonton and Morinville areas dropped off in the Barrhead area.
There is a trend in the type of vehicles that are stolen.
Vehicles stolen have been models between 2003 and 2007, specifically GMC Sierra trucks.
It is the pre-programmable keys with older ignitions in the vehicles that seem to be attracting these thieves.
Vicente said it didn’t seem like they were very sophisticated, and they were just drilling ignitions.
This was like when thieves were hitting older Ford vehicles.
There are cases with the technology today where when you press your vehicle remote thieves can steal your signal and start a vehicle.
Vicente reported that the RCMP has not seen anything like that in the Barrhead area. Vehicle thefts can happen at any time.
There are situations where a person may leave their vehicle vulnerable to theft.
Sgt. Colin Hack reminds the community that leaving your vehicle running and unlocked could increase your chances of having your vehicle stolen.
It is advised to ensure you have a second set of keys so that you can lock your vehicle while it is running.
A locked vehicle deters thieves who quickly move on to looking for unlocked vehicles according to Hack.
Vehicles recovered have had brand new rims and tires as well as stereos installed with the vin plates changed according to Vicente.
One of the questions asked in the town hall was about GPS locators for vehicles and key cages.
Hack explained that GPS locators are a good idea but where the locator is placed on the vehicle is important.
Thieves look for the GPS locators in easy to see places and look for flashing lights to get rid of trackers quickly.
Placing a GPS locator hidden in the engine area or in a hidden place in the vehicle is best.
Hack reported that thieves have smashed equipment to disable the OnStar feature within the vehicle.
