Is your licence plate still on your vehicle? N.S. RCMP report rash of thefts

Halifax District RCMP are asking people to check their licence plates before “venturing out” because of a recent rash of thefts in the Lower Sackville and Tantallon areas.

Police report they’ve received eight reports of stolen licence plates from those areas over the past six weeks. In each case, the vehicle owner discovered the plate had been taken off the vehicle while it was parked in a driveway or a public parking lot.

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“It is a high number for a short period of time,” said Cpl. Dal Hutchinson.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It is a high number for a short period of time," said Cpl. Dal Hutchinson.

“People will steal them because they have a similar vehicle and use that plate.”

Hutchinson says thieves will often use stolen plates on a stolen vehicle with the same make and colour. Or, they use the stolen plate because the vehicle will be used in a crime.

“We’ve encountered when people have put a plate on the vehicle and have gone to the gas station and filled up without paying,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've encountered when people have put a plate on the vehicle and have gone to the gas station and filled up without paying," he said.

READ: 19 thefts from vehicles in Halifax since Oct. 1

Anyone who notices a licence plate is missing should call police at (902) 490-5020 to report it so that it can be flagged as stolen in the system.

RCMP are also reminding vehicle owners to lock their doors and remove valuables. That’s because in the same six-week period, they received close to 50 complaints of thefts from unlocked vehicles in the Halifax Regional Municipality.