Lock it or lose it

The Central Okanagan is bucking provincial trends when it comes to auto theft, but not in a good way. 
Overall, auto crime is on the decline in BC — but vehicle thefts and break-ins increased in the Kelowna area this year. 
ICBC hopes its Operation Lock Up program will make life a little harder for car thieves.
BC Transportation Minister Mary Polak is a firm believer in the effectiveness of steering wheel locks.
“Up until about three years ago, I drove a 2001 Honda Civic and it was broken into many times, but it never got stolen.  Probably because it had the wheel lock on it,” says Mary Polak.
In most of BC auto theft has been declining for years, due partly to the bait car program.
“Unfortunately, here in Kelowna and West Kelowna we are seeing an increase.  In Kelowna it is up three per cent, but in West Kelowna we actually saw an increase of 80 per cent in vehicles being stolen,” says Michelle Hargrave of ICBC.
The RCMP say one or two prolific offenders can cause a spike in statistics.
“We know of one individual who focused primarily on Hondas, 1999 to  2001.  Those were his target vehicles.  We saw approximately 50 vehicles stolen by this one individual,” says RCMP Superintendent, Bill McKinnon.
Last year ICBC introduced Operation Lock Up to help curb the theft of older model vehicles.  It is giving away free steering wheel locks in five BC communities where auto crime is still a major problem.  To qualify you must own a pre-2001 car, or a pre-2008 Ford or Dodge pickup.
“The older cars don’t have immobilizers.  It became mandatory in 2008 for all vehicles to have immobilizers installed.  So the older cars are a little bit easier for thieves to steal,” says Hargrave.
Steering wheel locks are highly visible and ICBC and police say they really work.
“Absolutely.  It certainly is a deterrent if you are parked in a row of cars and a thief sees a lock on your vehicle they are far more likely to move on to an easier target,” says Polak.
ICBC is giving away 200 “clubs” in the Central Okanagan at a cost of $3,000.
“The average cost for us to process a claim for a stolen vehicle is $4,300.  If we prevent just one vehicle from being stolen it more than pays for the program,” Hargrave.
The wheel locks will be given away, first-come first-serve, at community policing offices in Kelowna and at the RCMP detachment in West Kelowna.