Thieves home in on GPS

By Melissa Meehan
DON’T let your sat nav become ‘sat nabbed’ this summer.
Casey police have set up specialised crews who will target theft from motor cars over the holiday season.
Opportunistic thieves are stealing valuables from more cars than ever before in south-eastern suburbs, causing serious inconvenience for residents. The police division made up of Casey, Cardinia, and Greater Dandenong has seen ‘theft from motor vehicle’ offences between July and November 2008 increase significantly compared to the same period last year.
State figures for the same period had shown an increase in theft offences, although not as significant as in south-eastern suburbs.
But so far their greatest findings are that motorists are failing to remove valuables from their cars, despite multiple warnings.
Victoria Police has employed the slogan ‘Remove It Or Lose It’ in order to remind people that they must remove all valuables, however significant or insignificant, from their cars no matter where they are parked.
Casey Criminal Investigation Unit Detective Senior Sergeant Dean Thomas said GPS navigational units were the most stolen items ahead of portable music players, laptops, sunglasses and loose change.
“A classic example is that people who remove their GPS units from the cradle still leave that cradle affixed to their window,” he said