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York's car insurance customers told about falling vehicle crime levels

30/07/07

There has been a sizeable drop in the total number of vehicle crime incidents reported in certain parts of York following the launch of a new police operation, local car insurance policyholders may be interested to know.

According to the York Press, car crime rates in Heworth and Huntingdon have fallen by 38.5 per cent since the end of May 2007 - when Operation Canola was introduced.

The initiative sees officers attempt to tackle both vehicle theft and the stealing of high-value items such as satellite navigation (sat nav) systems, laptops and mobile phones.

And it is hoped the crackdown will help police officers improve overall detection rates, which could potentially help to drive down car insurance premiums in York's crime hotspots.

According to figures from the local newspaper, approximately 93 per cent of car crimes reported over the past 12 months have not been solved.

Inspector Richard Anderson, member of the North Yorkshire neighbourhood policing team, has explained why the initiative was rolled out in Heworth and Huntingdon.

"The operation was launched after a rise in vehicle crime in that area," he said.

"We put the operation together to start dealing with it. The things we did included deploying our rat-trap car with a sat nav in it, which led to a number of arrests."

Earlier this month, car insurance customers were informed about a new rat-trap initiative in Leicestershire.

The project involved the positioning of dummy cars in crime-ridden parts of Loughborough, which were then packed with expensive laptops and mobiles.

These items were then equipped with hidden tracking devices to enable police officers to trace the movements of stolen property and arrest the criminals involved.