Lancet Jades
01-23-2004, 09:27 PM
Cop clue: Keys ease auto theft
By LYDA LONGA
Staff Writer
Last update: 23 January 2004
HOLLY HILL -- Don't leave your keys in the ignition. If you do in this town, it could cost you $48 and a verbal lashing from a cop.
Oh, and yes, your car could be stolen.
Leaving keys in a vehicle is an invitation to disaster, police say, pointing to Wednesday's incident when a woman's car was stolen -- along with her infant -- when police said she left the keys in the ignition.
Yet in Florida, the state with the second highest number of stolen vehicles in the country, 25 percent of the 87,979 cars stolen in 2002 had keys in the ignition, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Records show.
It's only common sense to take your keys with you, Holly Hill police spokesman Cmdr. Mark Barker said.
But patrol officers have found out that not everyone realizes that. For the past two weeks, police have been staking out parking lots of convenience stores all over the city in an effort to quash the bad habits of people who leave their keys in the ignition regularly.
"It's a very common habit," said Cpl. Forrest Currie. "We gave out three citations over the last two weeks, but we've issued a lot of verbal warnings and we're going to keep doing it."
Leaving the keys in the ignition is a non-moving traffic violation, Barker said. The fine? $48.
Police said Thursday that most of the people they've approached with a citation or a warning claimed they did not know that leaving the keys behind is an offense.
Barker said he hopes motorists learn from the carjacking that occurred at a Nova Road gas station Wednesday after a young mother left her keys in the ignition and her 6-month-old daughter in the back seat of her sports utility vehicle.
The child was taken when a man in his 20s sped off with the car. The theft prompted police to launch a grid search of practically every street in the city. The baby and the car were found about an hour later.
A Dodge Ram pickup was taken from the same gas station on Tuesday after a motorist left his keys in the ignition while he ran inside to make a quick purchase, Police Chief Don Shinnamon said.
The current crackdown on drivers who leave keys in their vehicles was fueled by an overall increase in crime in Holly Hill last year, the chief said.
"Crime went up 14 percent," Shinnamon said. "I had shift commanders prepare analyses of crimes so we could identify patterns. One of the patterns we identified (in auto thefts) was that people were leaving their keys in the ignition."
According to Barker, auto thefts rose considerably in the city between 2002, when 79 vehicles were stolen, to 2003, when 121 were taken.
Barker said the department hopes the keys-in-the-ignition stakeouts educate motorists.
"I don't think people realize that the best anti-theft prevention they have is simply locking their doors," Barker said.
Roy Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority, said the most common places where people will leave their keys in the ignition include convenience stores, gas stations, ATMs and the cleaners.
"People reason that they're going to be inside for only a minute," Miller said. While there are no hard statistics on how many cars are stolen in this country annually when keys are left behind, Cary Schneider of the Insurance Information Institute of America in New York said roughly 20 percent of all stolen cars had keys in the ignition. FBI statistics show about 1.5 million cars are stolen in the U.S. annually.
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Boy, you gotta be pretty stupid to leave your keys in the car...
By LYDA LONGA
Staff Writer
Last update: 23 January 2004
HOLLY HILL -- Don't leave your keys in the ignition. If you do in this town, it could cost you $48 and a verbal lashing from a cop.
Oh, and yes, your car could be stolen.
Leaving keys in a vehicle is an invitation to disaster, police say, pointing to Wednesday's incident when a woman's car was stolen -- along with her infant -- when police said she left the keys in the ignition.
Yet in Florida, the state with the second highest number of stolen vehicles in the country, 25 percent of the 87,979 cars stolen in 2002 had keys in the ignition, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Records show.
It's only common sense to take your keys with you, Holly Hill police spokesman Cmdr. Mark Barker said.
But patrol officers have found out that not everyone realizes that. For the past two weeks, police have been staking out parking lots of convenience stores all over the city in an effort to quash the bad habits of people who leave their keys in the ignition regularly.
"It's a very common habit," said Cpl. Forrest Currie. "We gave out three citations over the last two weeks, but we've issued a lot of verbal warnings and we're going to keep doing it."
Leaving the keys in the ignition is a non-moving traffic violation, Barker said. The fine? $48.
Police said Thursday that most of the people they've approached with a citation or a warning claimed they did not know that leaving the keys behind is an offense.
Barker said he hopes motorists learn from the carjacking that occurred at a Nova Road gas station Wednesday after a young mother left her keys in the ignition and her 6-month-old daughter in the back seat of her sports utility vehicle.
The child was taken when a man in his 20s sped off with the car. The theft prompted police to launch a grid search of practically every street in the city. The baby and the car were found about an hour later.
A Dodge Ram pickup was taken from the same gas station on Tuesday after a motorist left his keys in the ignition while he ran inside to make a quick purchase, Police Chief Don Shinnamon said.
The current crackdown on drivers who leave keys in their vehicles was fueled by an overall increase in crime in Holly Hill last year, the chief said.
"Crime went up 14 percent," Shinnamon said. "I had shift commanders prepare analyses of crimes so we could identify patterns. One of the patterns we identified (in auto thefts) was that people were leaving their keys in the ignition."
According to Barker, auto thefts rose considerably in the city between 2002, when 79 vehicles were stolen, to 2003, when 121 were taken.
Barker said the department hopes the keys-in-the-ignition stakeouts educate motorists.
"I don't think people realize that the best anti-theft prevention they have is simply locking their doors," Barker said.
Roy Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority, said the most common places where people will leave their keys in the ignition include convenience stores, gas stations, ATMs and the cleaners.
"People reason that they're going to be inside for only a minute," Miller said. While there are no hard statistics on how many cars are stolen in this country annually when keys are left behind, Cary Schneider of the Insurance Information Institute of America in New York said roughly 20 percent of all stolen cars had keys in the ignition. FBI statistics show about 1.5 million cars are stolen in the U.S. annually.
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Boy, you gotta be pretty stupid to leave your keys in the car...