A recent spike in car thefts has police concerned, with six stolen vehicles being reported last weekend alone, but social media is playing a part in helping owners recover them.
Four scooters have been stolen in the past seven days and all have been recovered.
Police say scooters are becoming a “popular target” for joyriders, and they’re concerned by the recent spike, which includes various types of vehicles.
A number of the thefts involved vehicles where the keys had been left in the ignition, making them easily attainable.
“This current spike is certainly a concern and we would encourage everyone to lock their vehicle and remove valuable items from parked vehicles,” says sergeant Dave Prentice. “Some people are making it very easy for thieves to take their vehicles. I would recommend anything that is going to make your car a less attractive target – such as a steering lock or an alarm.”
But not all of the thefts were of unlocked vehicles. Nelson teenager Ben McLeod’s Nissan Primera was stolen from his Curtis St home in Stoke last month. It was locked and is believed to have been taken for a joyride – which could be a popular theme, with Nelson Bays Police reporting a “very high” rate of recovery.
Ben’s car was stolen in the night, around 4am, but was recovered just a week later after his mother had posted details of the car on various Facebook pages, including local online garage sales.
“When I put it up so many people told me they had had their car stolen too, it just went on and on,” she says. “It wasn’t something you hear regularly in Nelson, but there’s something going on, there seems to be a lot of burglaries going on in Richmond. You might hear of one or two in Nelson but there’s like six or seven every week now and that’s what concerns me.”
Peta-Marie initially told other users of the Facebook pages to call the police if they spotted the car anywhere, but after adding her own phone number she received a call from someone who knew where it was. “I went there and, talking to the neighbours, I found it had been there for a few days. The neighbours didn’t know it had been stolen.”
Peta-Marie believed it was taken for a joyride because expensive items such as aftershave and Ray Bans sunglasses had been left in the car but were still there when it was recovered.
Just last week a 2007 Ford Ranger that was stolen from Richmond, had been recovered after it was posted on the Nelson Police Facebook Page and Dave agrees that social media was helping victims, as the publicity was likely to put more pressure on the offender to abandon the vehicle.
Police statistics show that there have been 146 unlawful takings in the 12 months leading up to June 2014. However, that figure wasn’t necessarily 146 stolen cars because it also includes attempted theft and the theft of trailers.
Dave says reports of unlawful theft of vehicles is something that came in “peaks and troughs” throughout the year, with no reports coming through some weeks.
He reiterated that locking your vehicle can go a long way to prevent theft, and believed most of the scooter thefts could have been prevented if they had been locked with a chain.
