Car crime rife in Sunderland

PRLog (Press Release) – Jan 23, 2008 – The statistics, obtained by the Sunderland Echo, show that over the past ten months, criminals have broken into 1,413 vehicles and stolen another 751 in the city centre.

Meanwhile, the areas of Washington and Houghton were also highlighted as being the worst in which to park a car alongside the city centre.

But police in Northumbria have said that they are winning the battle against vehicle offenders, with car crime in the area falling by more than 15 per cent between April and December 2007.

Chief Inspector Aidan Sloan, of Sunderland Area Command, commented that officers were pleased to see that vehicle crime was decreasing.

"Many of these thefts are the work of opportunist criminals who will break into a vehicle if they can see something worth stealing as they walk past, or try the doors and find a vehicle is insecure," he stated.

The inspector added that some of these incidents could be prevented if motorists removed valuables from their vehicles when they park and make their cars secure, but stated that police would continue to patrol problem areas.

Officers have said that Washington is the only area that has seen an increase in vehicle-related crime recently.

Meanwhile, the Home Office claims that on a national level, such incidents have fallen by over 60 per cent since their peak in 1995.


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