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The chair of the Brant County police services board is urging residents to lock their vehicles.
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“It doesn’t seem to matter where you live right now, it seems that everybody is being bothered by break-ins to vehicles and thefts,” Jennifer Haley said Tuesday. “Just last week, there was a theft of a running vehicle from a driveway in St. George.
“We like that we’re a rural county but things are changing,” she said.
“And we have to remember that we need to take precautions as well and to lock our vehicles.”
Haley made the comments after the board reviewed a report prepared by acting Insp. Angela Ferguson, the detachment commander.
Figures show that thefts from vehicles decreased by 6.4 per cent to 117 in 2021 from compared to 125 in 2020.
However, there was in increase of such incidents in December to 16, up from 10 in December 2020 and nine in December 2019.
Last month saw the theft of a wallet containing cash, credit, debit and health cards and a driver’s license from an unlocked vehicle on Church Street in Burford on Dec. 4. Also that day, Brant OPP officers were called to the Newport area to investigate reports of numerous vehicles parked in driveways and outbuildings being entered. A small amount of change was reported stolen from each vehicle. On Dec. 20, officers were sent to the Onondaga area to investigate multiple vehicle entries.
There were 97 vehicle thefts reported to Brant OPP in 2021, up from 76 in 2020 but down from 114 in 2019.
In December, 18 vehicle thefts were reported, up from nine from December 2020 and 11 in December 2019.
Neighboring municipalities including Hamilton, Waterloo and Brantford are also dealing with an increase in vehicle thefts, said Ferguson, adding that crime analysts are looking into the situation.
Meanwhile, the number of motorists charged with speeding in 2021 rose 48.9 per cent. Officers charged 2,228 motorists with speeding last year, up from 1,496 in 2020.