Crackdown on car thieves

THE war against car thieves is literally being taken to the streets of Bedworth as community cops are offering crime-fighting gadgets to owners of high value cars.

Following a spate of thefts of high value ‘keyless’ cars parked up outside peoples’ homes, officers from Bedworth Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) are bringing vehicle protection right to the doors of people across the town and neighbouring Bulkington.

As part of a sting, code-named ‘Operation Consort,’ police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are patrolling the streets looking for high value ‘keyless’ cars.

Where they spot them, officers are chatting with their owners, and offering information, crime prevention advice, and useful items to help combat thefts of and from vehicles.

They are also giving them ‘Defenders’ which are specially designed fabric pouches with a signal blocker built in.

PCSO Khane Barlow of Bedworth SNT explained: “We are aware of car thieves targeting high value or modern cars in our area, specifically keyless vehicles such as Ford ST’s, RS’s and Honda Civic Type R’s to name a few.

“The Signal Blocker isn’t just aimed at stopping people using their phones whilst behind the wheel (as it prevents calls and alerts). It also has the capability to block signals transmitted by contactless cards, modern passports and more importantly during this operation; keyless car fobs, preventing would-be thieves and identity fraudsters.

“We would recommend residents look to purchase one of these when our stock runs out. We will also be looking at the way criminals are crossing county lines to commit thefts of motor vehicles in our area, and have a number of options up our sleeves under our Operation Consort.

“The Defender can be purchased online, and has previously been recommended by BBC’s Rip Off Britain programme.

“We would rather help our residents to deter thieves, than deal with them as victims afterwards.”