Almost 60% of vehicles broken into in Nanaimo were left unlocked.
That’s according to the Nanaimo RCMP, as they report that each month, there are approximately 100 vehicles broken into.
For the month of October, the downtown area in Nanaimo ranked at the top with 17 break ins, the Hospital/Townsite area at 16, Buttertubs/University Heights at 15, the Divers Lake area at 8, Country Club Mall area at 7, and Uplands area at 6.
“We continue to treat theft from vehicles as one of our priorities and have dedicated resources in place, including Bait Cars and other covert means to combat it,” said Constable Gary O’Brien.
O’Brien reports this year is on track to have 1300 thefts from vehicles. Previous year’s numbers included 1593 in 2020, 2702 in 2019, and 2182 in 2018.
The RCMP’s tips for making sure your car is not broken into is to;
- Remove all valuables, and this means anything in plain view. The motto should be Out of sight, Out of mind
- Always lock your vehicles
- When parking in public places, try to avoid empty out of the way places
- Try to park where there is ample lighting
- Before retiring for the night, take a look inside your vehicle to ensure EVERYTHING is out of sight.
- Double check the vehicle is locked
- Always report suspicious activity to the police and not just to social media. Police may not attend if no crime has been committed but it is important to have a record of it so that investigators can see where crime patterns are developing
