Keys left in ignition resulting in extra automobile thefts: Regina police

The Regina Police Service is reminding residents to keep away from leaving working automobiles unlocked as it’s seeing a excessive variety of stolen vehicles.

For the reason that starting of February, police mentioned they’ve acquired 28 experiences of stolen automobiles, about half of which have been taken whereas the keys have been nonetheless within the ignition of both a working or parked automobile.

And over the previous 4 days, police mentioned 64 per cent of their stolen automobile experiences stemmed from keys being left contained in the automobile.

“It’s cold outside and if you’re warming up the automobile very first thing within the morning or maybe simply to go away the automobile and run right into a retailer, run a fast errand after which come again out to the automobile, it appears to be an irresistible urge,” mentioned Elizabeth Popowich, RPS spokesperson.

“When you concentrate on it, -30(C) one thing temperatures with a wind chill within the -40(C) vary — that makes it fairly tempting.”

Total, police mentioned automobile theft is down between Nov. 1 and Feb. 1 when in comparison with the identical time a 12 months in the past.

From Nov. 1, 2019 to Feb. 1, 2020, officers recorded 277 automobile thefts. From Nov. 1, 2020 to Feb. 1, 2021, there have been 233 thefts – 37 per cent of which occurred as a result of keys being left contained in the automobile.

Police mentioned the issue has gotten worse with the climate getting and staying colder.

“What we’re asking is for individuals to simply take away that chance for the theft to happen,” Popowich mentioned.

“In case you can’t depart the automobile working with an auto starter — and I notice that’s not in everybody’s price range — simply sit within the automobile for a couple of minutes and let it heat up. It doesn’t have to take a seat exterior for a very long time working unattended with the keys in it.”

Popowich mentioned most stolen automobiles are sometimes recovered within the metropolis and infrequently broken.

2:11Auto thefts are on the rise for automobile house owners and sellers