Police tackle 25 vehicle crimes a day
Police across Northumbria and County Durham dealt with more than 9,000 vehicle crimes last year, new figures show.
Website Click4Reg.co.uk used figures from the national database data.police.uk to calculate the total number of vehicle crimes recorded by 43 police forces/ constabularies across the UK in 2016.
Police class vehicle crime as “theft from or of a vehicle or interference with a vehicle”.
The research shows Northumbria Police dealt with 6,605 reports of such offences in 2016, while Durham handled 2,689 – a total of 9,294, or 25 a day.
The Metropolitan Police in London had the highest number of vehicle crimes recorded in 2016, with 89,900 offences, followed by West Midlands Police, who reported 29,106 vehicle crimes, and Greater Manchester, with 24,298 vehicle crimes re- corded in 2016. On the other end of the scale, City of London Police had the lowestnumber of vehicle crimes reported at 177.
Just above City of London Police was Dyfed-Powys Police who recorded 1,103 cases of vehicle crime in 2016.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show 71% of all vehicle-theft occurs during the week and night is the most prominent time, with 43% occurring during this period of the day.
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “It is always advisable to take simple crime-prevention measures when leaving your vehicle unattended, and we would always encourage people to double check their vehicle is locked when they leave it and that any valuables are removed, or at least out of view.
“Further crime-prevention advice can be found on our website at www.northumbria.police.uk”
A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary emphasised the importance of simple crime-prevention measures in tackling such opportunistic offending, said: “Most vehicle crime is preventable.
“The theft which we have seen across County Durham and Darlington has involved insecure vehicles, where doors are unlocked or windows left partially down, which makes it easy for any criminal to get inside a motor and steal property.
“The type of property which has been taken include handbags containing credit cards and cash, laptops, satnavs, dash cams, mobile phones and sunglasses.
“The message we would give is please ensure that your vehicle is locked and secured before you leave and don’t have property on display which attracts criminals. Minimise your risk of becoming a victim of this crime.”
“We would always encourage people to doublecheck” NORTHUMBRIA POLICE