Hull: Officers on the road are making a list and checking it twice…

Recently Humberside Police have seen a number of home burglaries where car keys have been taken and cars then stolen – usually from outside the burgled properties.

These vehicles aren’t always high value, high performance desirable marques but can be family and smaller cars.

The Police have a list of the vehicles which are still outstanding and teams from special operations, patrol, neighbourhoods, and traffic are out on the roads looking for them proactively. 

Now, a new initiative is underway to reduce this type of crime.

Inspector Mark Peasgood explains more: “What we are seeing is that when a vehicle is stolen in this way, criminals will usually change the number plate. It’s an attempt to make that vehicle more difficult to spot by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) or by officers.

“We have physical descriptions of all the stolen cars which have yet to be recovered in the Humberside Force area by make, model and colour. 

“What our officers are now doing is looking out for vehicles that match these descriptions, and they’ll be stopping drivers and making checks to find out if that car has been stolen.

“While it might be slightly inconvenient to some motorists and briefly disrupt some journeys, it’s our opportunity to provide crime prevention advice to homeowners and drivers, raise awareness and catch criminals. 

“Officers will be giving advice on how to keep vehicles secure and what to do to keep homes safe to prevent cars being stolen.

“It’ll deter those thieves who commit house burglaries just to steal vehicles by letting them know we’re out looking for them.

“It’s our proactive move to put a stop to this sort of crime, which we call ‘Hanoi’ burglaries. 

“By being able to do this, it will benefit our communities in the long run.

“Nine people have been arrested in north Hull and the surrounding East Riding villages alone in the past few weeks for such crimes. Some of them more than once. They are currently going through the judicial system.”

Here is some simple advice to protect yourself:

• Always lock and secure your home, especially at night and to store car keys in a safe place
• If you are able to, keep your car locked in a garage
• Lock garden and drive gates if you have them
• Consider buying a good CCTV system
• Never hang keys on the inside of a door and don’t leave keys on show or in an obvious place 
• Hide house and car keys within the house somewhere safe

If anyone sees anything suspicious, anybody looking as though they are checking a property or vehicle out, or anything out of the ordinary please contact us.

More details on home and car security can be found by following these links: 

https://www.humberside.police.uk/protect-your-vehiclehttps://www.humberside.police.uk/protect-your-home