Nissan Tiida’s are the most stolen vehicles in T&T and the police are appealing to the owners of this particular brand to invest in security features to make themselves hard targets.
The advice came from Sergeant Shala Julien of the police Stolen Vehicles Squad.
During the weekly police media briefing at the Police Administration Building, Sackville Street, Port of Spain, on Thursday, Julien referenced data over the past year, showing Nissan Tiida’s were among those most targeted by bandits, with Toyota Aquas in second place, Nissan AD Wagons and Wingroads sharing third place and Toyota Fielder Wagons fourth.
He said Kia K2700 and Hyundai H100 vans were also highly sought by criminals.
Julien said outside the usual advice of locking all doors and windows and parking in well-lit areas, additional features should also be considered.
“A key approach people can make is to outfit their vehicles with some measure of security. Quite often we see reports of larceny motor vehicles or robbery of motor vehicles and there are no security mechanisms.
“We would advise people to install a shift lock or steering lock which can make it difficult for thieves. Install an interior monitoring system which can detect movement after the vehicle has been locked.
“Consider a GSM car alarm. This allows a message to be sent to the subscriber if the vehicle is broken into, and the more popular option is to instal a GPS tracking system, which allows the owner to know the precise location of the vehicle. And there are some features where the vehicle can be shut down remotely.”
Julien also advised residents to form neighbourhood watch groups to increase their overall vigilance as a community.
He said there were 691 reports of stolen vehicles between January 1st and June 1st and of this figure, 34 per cent of the vehicles stolen were from the Northern Division – (St Joseph to Arima and La Horquetta.)
He added that the police had a 39 per cent recovery rate for the stolen vehicles.
“We can advise where people find themselves facing unusual technical failures where their alarm systems are concerned, we advise them to avoid casual strangers who may be over-enthusiastic to help, as they may hold ulterior motives.
“Instead, contact a known professional.”
He advised anyone who may have experienced such a theft to contact the Stolen Vehicles Squad at 627-0729, 800-TIPS, 555 or any police station.