Texas Auto Theft Prevention Program Expands

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has joined with the Heart of Texas Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority to expand a crime prevention campaign aimed at preventing auto thefts and auto burglaries in central Texas. The program involves the funding and distribution of signs that read, “LOCK your car, TAKE your keys and HIDE your belongings.”

The Heart of Texas (HOT) task force located in Waco will receive LOCK, TAKE and HIDE signs that will be distributed and placed throughout central Texas.

The program is just one of several crime prevention efforts that the Task Force utilizes to prevent auto thefts and burglaries in the area. Other efforts include surveillance operations, intelligence gathering and public advertising.

In Texas, an estimated 100,000 vehicles are stolen and another 250,000 are burglarized each year. It is also estimated that half of the vehicles stolen had the drivers’ keys left in the ignition and/or unlocked doors.

The LOCK, TAKE and HIDE signs will be placed in large public and private parking areas such as shopping malls, city parks, restaurants, apartment complexes and other areas where there is parking congestion.

ICT initially started the crime prevention program in Austin on March 2, 2005, and has since begun similar programs in Round Rock, Garland, Mesquite, Frisco, Celina, Del Rio, Houston, Laredo, Brownsville, Highland Village, Galveston, Beaumont and College Station.

Source: The Insurance Council of Texas, www.insurancecouncil.org