Full Notification

Each year, personnel from the Newark Police Department investigate many reports of car burglaries. Precautions could have prevented the loss of property and damage to the victim vehicle in the majority of these incidents. The Newark Police Department continues to educate residents on how to protect their cars from being burglarized. We need your help in cutting down on this prevalent and costly crime. You can take some simple steps to prevent your car from being burglarized.

Theft From Vehicle Prevention Tips:

• Always lock your vehicle: A locked vehicle makes it more difficult for a thief to take your valuables.

• Remove valuables: Remove your laptop computer, GPS and other valuables from your car. An empty car is less likely to draw the attention of a would be thief. Many of the thefts from motor vehicles are “Smash and Grabs.” Suspects smash a window to grab an item they see in plain view.

• Conceal belongings: If you must leave valuables in your vehicle, cover them or place them in a closed container. Additionally,blankets or shields will remove these items from plain view. Inform your children to cover their belongings or place them under their seat. This will ensure items are not seen through the vehicle’s windows.

• Don’t tag your keys with your address or license plate number.

• Remind all household drivers to lock doors: Communicate with all drivers within your home, especially teenagers, the importance of locking their car doors and adhering to the other precautions.

• When parking, check that all doors and your trunk are locked and that you have your keys with you.

• Park in a well-lighted area.

• Engrave any valuable vehicle equipment with a driver’s license number that can be traced back to you or record the serial number of these items. If these items are stolen the police can enter them into a national database; which may assist in recovering these items.

• To help prevent your vehicle from being stolen, install a hidden “kill switch”, use a steering wheel locking bar, or install an alarm system.