West Midlands PCC demands car makers do more to combat vehicle thefts
Car thefts in the West Midlands have almost doubled in just two years, prompting police officials to ask top car makers how best to tighten security.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson held 'tough talks' with car manufacturers this week, demanding they do more to prevent vehicle thefts - especially in the case of keyless cars.
Mr Jamieson met representatives of BMW, Ford, Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover, Audi and Honda in Coventry to discuss better practices and explain how he wants car crimes to come to a halt.
He said: "The recent rise in car thefts is becoming an epidemic.
“It is extremely worrying to see all the hard work of the last 10 years starting to be undone.
“We must not sit back and watch as this issue worsens. I want more to be done to protect cars from criminals.
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“Whilst I’ll be expecting the police to tackle the problem head on and to continue to make arrests, it is also not good enough for manufacturers to sell vehicles worth tens of thousands of pounds if that car can be stolen from a driveway in under 60 seconds.
“Now is the time for car manufacturers to take action and prevent us from returning to levels of vehicle theft not seen since 2003.”
In the West Midlands the number of cars recorded as stolen in the last two years has nearly doubled.
According to police records, in 2015 there were 5,344 cars stolen while in 2017 there were 9,451 cars stolen. Nationally car crime is also increasing.The recent rise follows substantial progress made in the 10 years from 2003 – 2013 when car thefts were reduced by around 75% in the West Midlands.
The PCC also called for a new law to ensure electronic devices, used by criminals to steal cars, are only sold to mechanics, experts and auto locksmiths who are registered with a recognised trade association.
Cloning
Mr Jamieson wants key cloning gadgets to be removed from sale on the mass market and has written to both Amazon and eBay about this. He reported that Amazon have yet to respond and are still selling the products while eBay say the devices are in breach of their policy and are working to remove them from their site.
The police have also been also asked to do more, including recording how a vehicle was taken - and whether it was keyless or not.
Dr Steffan George from the Master Locksmiths Association said: “The open availability of electronic compromise equipment, lock picks and other tools that only locksmiths should have access to is distressing for our industry.
“The lack of regulation of the locksmith industry means that anyone can call themselves a locksmith. It is also the reason that it is difficult to restrict the sale of these devices. The MLA therefore backs the PCC’s call for a registration system for locksmiths. This will help regulate the availability and ownership of locksmith tools.”
