Editorial: We can put thieves out of business

Photo / Lynda Feringa

You can never be too security conscious especially when it comes to your personal possessions.

In yesterday's paper, police were urging Hawke's Bay residents to be vigilant following a spate of vehicle break-ins in the region.

Recently thieves had zeroed in on a Hastings suburb where 10 cars were targeted. Most of them were parked on residential driveways.

Almost all of the vehicles had windows broken and various items were taken.

Police recommend making sure doors are locked at all times and items of interest, including cellphones, laptops, iPads, iPods, even parking meter money, are tucked away out of sight, to reduce the risk.

A few minutes of making sure there was nothing tempting on display for would-be thieves could save you the heartache of dealing with getting any damage repaired plus the hassle of dealing with an insurance claim.

Car security is something I've always been a stickler for especially after I had my car stolen from out the front of my house.

I also remember doing a story where I went around a car park with police looking in car windows to see what car owners left sitting in plain view. To my shock and horror, I saw handbags, laptops and MP3 players. Surprisingly someone had even managed to leave their keys in the ignition.

Police said people needed to be vigilant when it came to security, not just at home but at work or when going shopping.

The other thing we can do is report any suspicious behaviour. I wish my neighbour had heeded this advice when my car was stolen. He saw someone hanging around the car but didn't think anything of it at the time.