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WEST JORDAN — Police are hoping to show drivers just how easy they’ve been making life for car thieves after a recent run of thefts.
Sgt. JC Holt said the city has seen more than 25 cars stolen from driveways during the past 60 days, and a new video created by the department aimed to show that an unattended, idling car can be taken in a matter of seconds.
“It just seems that we have one every few days, sometimes a couple of days,” Holt said. “People will go out, they’ll start the car, turn the defroster on full-blast and run back in the house, and they’re coming back out and their vehicles are gone.”
The video portrays a similar situation unfold before a supposed surveillance camera. Holt said in almost all of the recent cases, the stolen cars had been left idling or had been left unlocked with keys left inside.
“Obviously, we feel like every single one of them were preventable if the suspect or suspects wouldn’t have had access to the cars and the keys at the same time.”
Holt encouraged drivers not to leave cars alone while idling, and not to leave vehicles unlocked. He said remote starts with locked cars are another potential option.
“Don’t leave your cars running in your driveway,” Holt warned. “It’s better that you have a car to drive to work in than not having a car at all.”
