Can you spot a common theme in these excerpts from the North Battleford RCMP's daily reports?
6:13 a.m. - Theft of a 2013 Ford F150 reported from Henderson Drive. A second vehicle reported stolen from Henderson Drive about an hour later. Both vehicles recovered on the Red Pheasant First Nation in the morning. Owners of both vehicles had left keys inside.
8:24 a.m. - 2010 white Ford F150 with Saskatchewan License 8R406 reported stolen from 1900 block of 100th Street overnight. Keys left in vehicle.
1:41 p.m. - White 2000 Ford Focus reported stolen from Clements Drive overnight. Keys believed left in vehicle.
And these?
11:54 p.m. - Patrolling member located an unsecured vehicle on Bunce Crescent that appeared to have been gone through, door left ajar.
12:03 p.m. - Vehicle parked on 1000 block of 108th Street gone through overnight. Nothing reported missing, items inside thrown around.
12:46 a.m. - Vehicle gone through on 14th Avenue. Nothing taken, vehicle left unlocked. Reported to be three suspects.
RCMP Insp. John Sutherland recently met with the News-Optimist newsroom staff for a wide-ranging discussion of items of mutual interest.
In that discussion Insp. Sutherland said one focus of detachment members is educating the public on ways to prevent what the police see as crimes of opportunity - vehicle theft and theft of articles from vehicles.
The solution is really pretty straightforward - don't leave keys in the vehicle and don't leave any valuables in the cab. But as the first three excerpts illustrate, some people still aren't getting that message.
The following three indicate maybe the second message is being heard. RCMP say thieves will break a vehicle window to steal something as innocuous as a denim jacket, so leaving nothing enticing inside protects not only private property, but the vehicle itself.
It is evident the vehicles mentioned above were likely left unlocked, but that could have been another form of prevention in some neighbourhoods, areas where vehicle owners would rather have the cab rifled through than suffer the aggravation of repeated window replacement.
It seems like simple prevention to me, but then I've been hanging out with Mr. Fort Knox for some 30 odd years. He grew up along a busy highway where his family ran a business. They were always cautious about securing buildings and vehicles.
I grew up in the Southwest, far from civilization. We always knew where the keys to our vehicles were - in the ignition! But, now as an urbanite, I follow the rules - empty the cab and lock the doors. So far it's saved me from the grief of having my vehicle or my property stolen. My daughter learned that lesson the hard way when she left her backpack in the back seat of her locked car on a North Battleford street. The window was broken, and her fancy stereo and her entire life - bank card, drivers' licence, school books - were stolen. If not for the highly visible backpack, the thieves might have overlooked the stereo.
My son's wallet and ID turned up in a nearby church parking lot after he left his vehicle unlocked while parked in front of our house in Battleford and it was rifled through. In Saskatoon, he left his iPod Touch in a transmission cradle in his car. The window was broken and the iPod stolen.
These were hard lessons, and completely avoidable. The kids didn't get much sympathy from Mr. Fort Knox.
Are you making things easy for those always trolling for the benefits of "crimes of opportunity?"
