The Alberta RCMP’s recent awareness initiative surrounding idling vehicles during the winter has proven to be a success.
Operation Cold Start was a project launched between January 8th and 12th to help law enforcement educate the public about the potential theft of idling vehicles, and involved 38 RCMP detachments around the province, and included vehicle checking and education opportunities.
According to Alberta RCMP Public Relations Officer Corporal Mathew Howell, more than 1,800 vehicles were checked and proved the RCMP’s point as 521 were found to be unlocked with the keys still in them, and 855 were found locked with keys still in the ignition.
Corporal Howell says police made contact with 424 vehicle owners in a number of ways, including leaving playful notes with a serious undertone in unlocked vehicles.
“They often put notes, or otherwise in the car saying- had it not been an RCMP officer, had it been a thief your car would be gone by now,” he says.
As part of prevention efforts, police issued a total of 100 steering wheel locking devices, which Corporal Howell says act as a deterrent for any would-be car thieves.
“What happens with a lot of car thieves is a lot of them are opportunists, so they see the opportunity and they will take it [and] if they see there’s a steering wheel lock or other anti-theft mechanisms in place, they’re going to go to an easier mark,” he says.
Howell adds that the safe amount of time to leave your car running unattended is “about zero seconds” and car theft can happen in as quick as 30 seconds.
“We’ve had cases where people go get their coffee because they forgot it and they came back and the car was gone,” he says. “It can be that quick, especially if someone’s watching, there’s certain businesses where people are likely to leave their car running while they are running in, leaving their car for 30 seconds to drop something off or drop a kid off for example.”
Additionally, Howell emphasizes the importance of keeping valuables out of your vehicle whether it is running or not, and any valuables should be kept out of sight, or better, out of the vehicle completely.
