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Be more vigilant with your car keys

Palmyra Police officer-in-charge Snr-Sgt Craig CollinsNorth Coast Times

In the past financial year more than 9,000 vehicles were stolen in WA, part of a rising trend over the past three years.

Many of these vehicle thefts are the result of a burglary, where thieves break into homes and take the car keys to steal the resident’s vehicle.

Figures show 70 per cent of stolen vehicles are stolen with keys and 35 per cent of stolen vehicles are taken during home burglaries.

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Many home burglaries are committed for the purpose of stealing keys and cars. Some of these are opportunistic while others are planned, targeting the owners of specific vehicles.

WA has the largest percentage of immobilisers fitted to vehicles, which means thieves generally need access to car keys to steal a car.

This accounts for the number of home burglaries being committed to specifically steal car keys.

The stolen cars are then often used for other offending across metropolitan Perth, including robberies and armed hold ups.

Drivers need to treat their car keys as valuables, such as wallets and phones.

However, personal safety is always paramount, so if confronted by an offender demanding keys or other valuables, you should hand them over.