If you don't pay attention to your valuables in public, a thief might.
That’s the message from the Vancouver Police Department following a spike in purse, wallet, cell phone and bicycle snatchings.
“I’m not talking about break-ins to houses, break-ins to cars,” Deputy Chief Adam Palmer told a press conference Tuesday. “I’m talking about things being stolen from Vancouverites as they go about their day-to-day business living in the city.”
From laptops left on coffee shop counters to purses hanging open on park benches, criminals have been seizing opportunities to sneak off with unattended belongings.
Police statistics show Vancouver’s overall crime rate has gone down over the last decade, but opportunistic thefts are on the rise. There were 6,819 reported in 2013 alone, not including bicycles.
That’s an average of 19 thefts per day.
“What we’re seeing is that thieves are coming along, they’re stealing items out of purses, out of backpacks, off of tables when people aren’t looking,” Palmer said.
Bicycle thefts are also up almost 13 per cent so far this year compared to the same period in 2013, according to police.
In response, the VPD has launched a new campaign called “Who’s watching it when you’re not?” intended to keep people mindful of their valuables.
Palmer said the public is also urged to record the serial numbers on their belongings and to have one engraved onto items like bikes, which can ensure they’re returned if they do get snatched.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s St. John Alexander
