Lock It Or Lose It Say Police

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Windsor Police is reminding motorists and passengers to lock it or lose it when it comes to their vehicles and valuables this holiday season.

Securing your vehicle and valuables makes sense year-round, but police say that would-be thieves are especially looking to play the role of Bad Santa during the holiday season by stealing your vehicle or valuables.

Over the holiday season officers will be out in the community examining parked vehicles to confirm they are locked and that no valuables have been left in plain view. Officers may place a small notice on vehicles checked indicating what safety precautions were neglected and offer simple prevention tips for drivers to protect their vehicles against theft. The notices also congratulate drivers who have secured their vehicle.

Between 2016 and 2017, police say that there was an overall increase of 6% in auto theft across Canada. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, on average, a car is stolen every seven minutes in Canada. Automobile thefts cost Canadians close to $1 billion. This can be broken down to $542 million for insurers to fix or replace stolen vehicles, $250 million in police, health care and court system costs, and the rest for correctional services. It’s estimated that about 40 people die and 65 people are injured as a direct result of auto theft every year.

Motorists and passengers are urged not to keep personal documents such as vehicle ownership, liability pink slips, credit card invoices, or other documents containing personal information in their vehicles. Identity thieves are looking for such documents so they can assume identities, secure credit card accounts, lease vehicles for export, and even take out a mortgage against victims’ properties without their knowledge.