San Luis police urge auto burglary prevention

SAN LUIS, Ariz. - With a sum of 130 vehicles stole in 2008, or about 10 a month, and a border through which millions of people and cars cross every day, this city requires inhabitants to practice stronger preventive measures to reduce the number of car robberies, the police chief says.

This is a vast city where “a car may be taken to Mexico within seconds of time,” said Javier Nuño, chief of police.

Nuño said that compared with the number of car burglaries in 2007; there was a decline in 2008 from 186 in 2007.

He said once the border fence was constructed, there was a diminish in the number of vehicles used to transport illegitimate aliens athwart the border.
“A lot of of the vehicles that were stolen were afterward used by 'polleros'
(human traffickers) to cross people illegitimately. We no longer have this trouble, but the vehicles which have been robbed are still sold intact or in parts.

“It’s simple to cross the border with what is known as a master key, and very shortly they are at one of the public parking lots opening up a car, prepared to go back to Mexico with it. It is not a obligatory entry,” Nuño elucidated.

In March 2008, 18 vehicles were stolen from public parking lots, some of them on Main Street where police frequently patrol, “but we continue to have people who don’t practice safety and will leave their vehicles unlocked,” Nuño said.

Toyota and Nissan are the most famous makes robbed by thieves, particularly pickups or SUVs, he reported.

Last year the Arizona Department of Public Safety promoted the Watch Your Car program but it wasn’t enduring. “We are looking forward for funds to run the program ourselves,” Nuño said.

In the program, partakers register their car with the names of all the drivers and the hours they characteristically use the car. The police are then endorsed to stop the car and check when it is used at hours other than the ones indicated.

“This would be effectual in averting robbers as we could stop cars under what we deem to be suspicious circumstances,” Nuño noted.

He said it was vital for drivers to take their own safety measures, comprising alarm systems and steering wheel locks.

He also suggested “that cars be can parked in private parking lots where there are security guards.”

Nuño also pointed out that with the assistance of the Mexican police; they have recovered 49 robbed vehicles.