Funding unlocked in Bedfordshire to help tackle tool and vehicle thefts
Bedfordshire Police will be delivering support to tradespeople
As tool thefts from vehicles are reported to have increased across the country, Bedfordshire Police are launching an initiative to better prevent these crimes.
While an average of 2.5 tool theft crimes generally occur daily, the issue remains manageable yet significant.
When these types of crimes occur, the force relies heavily on communicating with the public, witnesses, and CCTV images from nearby cameras and dashcam and doorbell footage in their investigations.
The main issue remains the time of day these crimes are typically carried out, often occurring in the dark and lasting only minutes.
To help better prevent these crimes, the office for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire released an additional £15,000 from the Safer Streets pot, which will be made available from the 8th of May in eight different locations across Bedfordshire.
Jim Goldsmith Chief Inspector for the Community Policing Team in Central Bedfordshire, told us what this funding will consist of: "Independent trades people can pick up vehicle DNA markers for free."
"That will mean they can mark their tools with a DNA type substance that, should it be identified, it be anywhere across the country, they will have a database back to refer to, and hopefully we'll see some of those."
"Along with those we'll also have RFID pouches."
"We have had some high end vehicles stolen where keys have been replicated through remote devices because they're wireless and what these bags do is you pop your keys and bag so they can't scan your code and get into your vehicle remotely again.
"They're free in a bid to try and encourage people to take that sort of ownership for them, and together we will be able to reduce the amount of crime that suffers not only in Bedfordshire but across the UK."
Mr Goldsmith wants to further reassure the public, urging them not to live in fear but to remain vigilant and cooperative in reporting suspicious activities.