2018 has started off with quite the bang, criminally.
In the first six days of this year, Barrhead RCMP says 12 vehicles have already been stolen, eight either running or with the keys in them.
12 vehicles in six days.
Reread the line if you have to and really think about it.
Isn’t that ridiculous?
Certainly, we at the Barrhead Leader understand the reason many of us, whether you live in the town or the county, leave the motor running in our vehicles while we duck into Timmies or the Flower Shoppe or any another business — its been brutally cold around here lately — but are you aware of the impact this is having on the RCMP’s ability to fight other crimes?
In our cover page story, Barrhead’s top cop says with police prioritizing vehicle theft and other property crimes, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tackle other issues like impaired driving and drug-trafficking.
We rely on the police to, among other things, keep us safe and to keep deadly substances off our streets, yet our habitual desire to make our lives easier is in fact making everything harder.
How many more vehicles need to be stolen before we come to terms with the realities of the world we now live in?
Are you comfortable with the knowledge that while you left the keys in your vehicle to make your life easier, if it is stolen, it could be involved in an accident in which someone — more than likely an innocent, loses their life?
These are the questions those of us at the Leader continually ask ourselves when we speak with Dodds or other detachment members, scratching our heads at the lunacy of 12 vehicles in six days.
They are questions everyone needs to start asking themselves too.
One of these days, someone is going to be killed because of the actions of the thieves responsible and on that day, the person who owns the vehicle in question is going to have a hard time going to sleep coming to grips with the results.
