Vehicle theft is a growing concern for RCMP detachments throughout Saskatchewan with many of the vehicles not being stolen for re-sale but for use in additional crimes. It is common for RCMP Officers to locate a stolen vehicle abandoned after it has been used in several crimes to prevent identification of those involved.
A reminder to lock vehicles was recently issued by the Maidstone Detachment which received 66 stolen vehicle complaints in 2019 with six reported stolen already between January 1, 2020, to February 6th, 2020.
On Thursday February 6, 2020 Cst. Arsenault of the Maidstone RCMP Detachment was on patrol in downtown Maidstone and located seven running vehicles that were unlocked and could have easily been stolen in seconds. Locating these seven vehicles took approximately 35-40 minutes. Cst. Arsenault secured these vehicles, located the drivers, and warned them how easily their vehicle could have been stolen and requested that they please turn off and lock their vehicles when they’re not in them. On February 10, 2020, an unlocked and running vehicle was stolen from a gas station in Maidstone. The attempted recovery of this vehicle involved members of the Maidstone, Cut Knife, and Battleford RCMP Detachments for an easily preventable crime.
RCMP would like to remind the public to secure your vehicles.
