Alarm over car thefts

AT LEAST six cars are being stolen on the Gold Coast every day, according to shock new car theft statistics.

In the last financial year, 2250 vehicles were stolen locally, a jump of at least 14 per cent – up from 1968 the year before – new figures from the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction (NMVTR) council reveal.

Southport, Surfers Paradise and Palm Beach topped the list of the most risky suburbs, while Austinville and Springbrook were the only areas to stay theft free.

Holden Commodores were the most popular brand to be taken, followed by Ford Rangers and Nissan Navaras.

NMVTR CEO Geoff Hughes said that despite the jump, nationally COVID-19 social lockdown arrangements had helped constrain what was predicted to be a horror year for car owners.

“At the beginning of the financial year nationally we were predicting above 60,000 thefts for the first time since the financial crisis. The lockdowns however saved us from that,” Mr Hughes said.

“To illustrate the point for the Gold Coast, thefts peaked in March at 216 and fell to 107 in June.”

Despite the drop, Mr Hughes said property owners could expect to see a rise in theft as the economy dipped in the post-pandemic recovery.

“There is an established link between the performance of the economy and property crime, so in the current climate there is a real risk of sustained elevated theft levels as social conditions normalise,” he said.

“There is every likelihood crime will start rising again and we think the nation is going to be really challenged by property crime into 2021-2022.”

As in previous years the most common method of theft (97 per cent) involved the “sneak method” where keys are taken from homes or owner, as car security systems grow more sophisticated.

Mr Hughes said evidence also showed stolen cars were being increasingly used for a series of crimes instead of being the focus of the crime itself.

“Vehicle crime in 2020 is very different compared to 10 or even five years ago. Now we are seeing it mainly used in second and third offences, which complicates the response,” he said. “That means if we can stop the theft, we can stop a series of crimes and have a much bigger impact on our communities.”

Car owners are advised to follow the pop, lock and stop method – pop keys out of sight, lock doors and windows and stop sneak thefts.