By Sarah Rae

RCMP urge residents to not leave car keys in the ignition

Jul 28, 2016 | 7:00 PM

Following a thwarted car theft, RCMP are again reminding residents to take the keys out of their cars when they’re not driving.

Sgt. Jason Teniuk said this is an ongoing problem in North Battleford and car thefts could be dramatically reduced if people didn’t leave their keys inside the vehicle.

“I think honestly I’ve done the same thing, I’ve left my truck on the driveway and left the keys. You forget, but I think you need to make the extra effort now, we need to make it more difficult to steal these vehicles,” he said.

According to a news release, RCMP were called to 15th St. in Battleford for a complaint of stolen vehicles at roughly 3 a.m. on July 28.

At about the same time, an off-duty RCMP member was awoken by strange vehicle noises. When he went to investigate, he found several people attempting to steal a car and scared them off.

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Police said the suspects had already stolen two vehicles and were attempting to steal a third when the member scared them away. He was able to secure two vehicles before police arrived.

One 13-year-old suspect was caught shortly after, but the rest got away. Teniuk said all three vehicles involved had the keys inside.

He said it’s common for people to leave their keys in the ignition or somewhere else in the car. Even if keys are hidden in the car or the car is parked in the garage, it’s still possible for people to steal it. Teniuk said there are several ways to get inside a garage and it’s not difficult for car thieves to find a key in the glove compartment or elsewhere.

There are three major problems caused by people leaving their keys in cars, according to Teniuk.

“Number one, for the people, because they lose their vehicle. Number two, insurance, everybody’s insurance rates go up when these vehicles get stolen because most of the time they get wrecked and they’re written off. Number three, safety issues for my officers, because they’ve got to deal with these 3,000 pound vehicles running down the road,” he said.

Teniuk said he doesn’t think car thefts could be completely prevented, but simply taking the keys out of the car could substantially help.

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.